India on Thursday asserted its right to put the decades-old Indus Waters Treaty with Pakistan in "abeyance" following the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam, in which 26 civilians were killed by terrorists linked to Pakistan. The attack was religiously-motivated, and came days after an inflammatory and communal speech by Pakistan's Army Chief Asim Munir.
During a press briefing about Operation Sindoor, under which India is responding to military escalations by Pakistan following New Delhi's precision strikes on Pakistani terror camps, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri noted that there is a lot of "disinformation (in Pakistan) regarding the Indus Waters Treaty" being suspended indefinitely.
Highlighting Pakistan's utter disregard for the pact, Mr Misri said that "If you see (closely), the preamble of the treaty itself states that the treaty was concluded in a spirit of goodwill and friendship. Mark those words," said the top diplomat, underlining the words again - "concluded in a spirit of goodwill and friendship."
"It is India's patience and tolerance that despite 65 years of attacks and provocations, we have been adhering to the treaty," he added.
"The fact is that there have been fundamental changes in the circumstances in which the Indus Waters Treaty was concluded," said Mr Misri, adding that there is now a need to "reassess the obligations under that treaty."
He stressed on the fact that "over the last two years, India has been in communication with the Government of Pakistan. We had sent several notices to them, requesting for negotiations to discuss modification of the treaty." Mr Misri underscored that "India has, for six-plus decades now, honoured the treaty - even during periods when Pakistan imposed multiple wars on India, and even when relations were adversarial."
Sharply criticizing Islamabad for attempts to build a false narrative, Mr Misri said, "Pakistan is the one that has been acting in violation of the treaty, deliberately creating legal roadblocks in India exercising its legitimate rights on the Western Rivers (Indus, Jhelum, and Chenab)."
He highlighted how "Any projects that India sought to build on the Eastern Rivers (Sutlej, Beas, and Ravi) and even on the Western Rivers, which we are allowed to, by the treaty, were always challenged by Pakistan, thereby hampering our rights to utilise our legitimate waters under the treaty."
Blaming Pakistan for not co-operating or responded to India's request to enter into negotiations to reassess obligations under the treaty, Mr Mistri noted that "a number of conditions have changed" since 1960. Highlighting a few, the top diplomat said:
- "This is a treaty that was based on the engineering techniques of the 1950s and 60s. We are now at the end of the first quarter of the 21st century. Technological changes and technological advancements have to be taken into account."
- "There are demographic changes" that need to be factored in after six-and-a-half decades.
- "There are climate changes" that have shaped up over the years and needs attention.
- "There is the imperative of clean energy", which is crucial.
- And of course, the terrorism that emanates and reeks from Pakistan affecting the state of Jammu and Kashmir, which hampers India's ability to exercise its rights under the treaty.
But Pakistan, he said, has "persistently refused to respond to India's requests to enter into any government-to-government negotiations" is in itself a violation of the treaty. Keeping these factors in mind, along with the terror attack in Pahalgam, India has therefore kept the treaty in "abeyance" till such time that Pakistan "abjures irrevocably its support for cross-border terrorism."
