Islamabad/New Delhi, July 6 (IANS) India’s decision to hold the Indus Water Treaty (IWT) in abeyance following the heinous Pahalgam terror attack last year by Pakistan-backed terrorists underscores that the move is not directed against the Pakistani people but is intended to put pressure on Islamabad, which uses terrorism as an instrument, a report has stated.
It argued that Pakistan’s actions have legitimised terror and undermined security architecture, posing a threat to people in the entire region stretching from Central Asia to South Asia and beyond.
According to a report in the ‘International Centre for Peace Studies’, Pakistan has repeatedly resorted to provocative rhetoric and undiplomatic language against India, while Islamabad’s continued support for cross-border terrorism and repeated military aggression have undermined the spirit of the IWT.
Recently, it said, a series of provocative statements were directed against India, with Pakistan’s Climate Change Minister Musadik Masood Malik saying at a press conference, “Whoever touches our water, their hands would be cut off.”
Pakistan’s military spokesperson (DG ISPR), Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, reportedly said, “If you block our water, we will choke your breath.” Earlier, terrorist and chief of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) Hafiz Saeed said, “If you stop the water, we will stop your breath, and blood shall flow in these rivers.”
“The circumstances under which the Indus Waters Treaty was signed in 1960 were very different, and today they have fundamentally changed. Moreover, Pakistan often cites this agreement as a perfect example of transboundary river cooperation between the two countries. However, if it survived all these years, it was because India honoured it in good faith and showed extraordinary generosity despite the wars imposed by Pakistan in 1965, 1971, and 1999 (Kargil) and its continued sponsorship of cross-border terrorism against India,” the report detailed.
“India has been so generous under this treaty that it has itself suffered hugely because of it. This treaty can be called an exceptional case in which India, an upper riparian state exhibiting non-reciprocity, voluntarily agreed to forego more than four times the amount of water to Pakistan, a lower riparian state, and imposed stringent restrictions on its own water use — an act of unprecedented goodwill undertaken in expectation of good neighbourly conduct,” it added.
The report noted that under the treaty Pakistan receives nearly 80.52 per cent of the waters of the six-river Indus system, whereas India, despite being the upper riparian state with the larger basin area, has been allocated only 19.48 percent of the waters.
As a result, it said, India has incurred significant losses in terms of “economic growth, agricultural development, hydropower generation, irrigation expansion, and infrastructure development”.
“However, due to Pakistan’s continued cross-border terrorism, especially after the Pahalgam terror attack, India has now linked the future of the Indus Waters Treaty to terrorism, making its restoration contingent upon Pakistan ending its support for cross-border terrorism. India has not suspended the treaty; rather, it has kept it in abeyance, meaning that it can be reinstated if Pakistan stops sponsoring terror against India,” the report noted.
–IANS
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