India defends suspension of Indus Water Treaty at UN; cites Pak hostility, 'outdated' clauses
NEW DELHI: India has rebutted Pakistan's claims at the United Nations regarding the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT), accusing Islamabad of repeatedly violating the spirit of the agreement through decades of hostility, including wars and state-sponsored terrorism.
India also cited that the decades-old water-sharing pact is misaligned with present-day realities, including the urgent need for clean energy, the impacts of climate change, and shifting demographic pressures.
Speaking at a UN Security Council Arria Formula meeting on 'Protecting Water in Armed Conflict – Protecting Civilian Lives,' India's Permanent Representative to the UN, P Harish, said, "We are constrained to respond to the disinformation being carried out by the delegation of Pakistan with regard to the Indus Waters Treaty. India has always acted in a responsible manner as an upper riparian state."
Harish said that the 1960 treaty, which was entered into in good faith, had been undermined by Pakistan's consistent aggression. "Pakistan has violated the spirit of the treaty by inflicting three wars and thousands of terror attacks on India," he said, referencing the recent April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, that left 26 civilians dead.
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