Latest news with #IndusWatersTreaty
New Indian Express
36 minutes ago
- Politics
- New Indian Express
'Blood and water will not flow together': Jaishankar on suspension of Indus Waters Treaty
External Affairs Minister Jaishankar talked about the suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty with Pakistan following the Pahalgam attack in the Rajya Sabha.
The Hindu
3 hours ago
- Politics
- The Hindu
'Atrocious, shocking': Cong slams Jaishankar's remarks on Nehru, Indus Waters Treaty
The Congress on Wednesday (July 30, 2025) termed as 'atrocious' External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar's remarks calling the Indus Waters Treaty appeasement by India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and said the minister showed that he has long given up the slightest pretence of being a professional. The Congress' attack on Mr. Jaishankar came after his speech in Rajya Sabha while intervening in the special discussion on Operation Sindoor and the Pahalgam attack. In his remarks, Mr. Jaishankar said the Narendra Modi government has corrected the wrongs of Nehru's policies by suspending the Indus Waters Treaty. 'The treaty signed by Nehru was not to buy peace but for appeasement,' the minister said. Hitting back at Mr. Jaishankar, Congress general secretary in-charge of communications Jairam Ramesh said, 'Once upon a time, the External Affairs Minister was known as a professional. Today, he showed that he had long given up the slightest pretence of being one. His remarks on Nehru and the Indus Waters Treaty in the Rajya Sabha today were, to put it mildly, absolutely shocking.' Mr. Jaishankar deliberately did not mention that without the three eastern rivers – Sutlej, Beas, and Ravi – being exclusively with India the Bhakra Nangal dam complex, key to the Green Revolution, would not have become a reality, he said. 'Without the three eastern rivers being exclusively with India, the transformative and long Rajasthan Canal would not have been possible, and the Ravi-Beas link would not have been possible,' Mr. Ramesh argued. 'Even on the Chenab and Jhelum, India has already implemented a number of hydel projects like Baglihar, Salal, Dul Hasti, Uri, and Kishenganga. A number of other projects are under execution. In June 2011, at the initiative of Dr. Manmohan Singh, Chenab Valley Power Projects Private Ltd. was incorporated,' the Congress leader said. 'It is true that Pakistan has obstructed the utilisation of what India is legally entitled to on the Chenab and Jhelum. But to call the Indus Waters Treaty communal appeasement by India's first Prime Minister - as the EAM did today - was simply atrocious,' Mr. Ramesh said.
Indian Express
3 hours ago
- Politics
- Indian Express
Jaishankar says Indus Waters Treaty was ‘appeasement': The exact terms of treaty, and what Nehru said
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Wednesday (July 30) attacked former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru in the Rajya Sabha, claiming the Indus Waters Treaty was signed 'for appeasement'. 'The Indus Waters Treaty, in many ways, is a very unique agreement. I cannot think of any agreement in the world where a country has allowed its major rivers to flow to the next country without having rights on that,' Jaishankar said. He then cited a speech made by Nehru in Parliament on November 30, 1960, to claim that the former PM was more concerned about Pakistan's welfare than India's. Claims that the Indus Waters Treaty was unfair to India are as old as complaints in Pakistan that they got a bad deal. What is the rationale behind the claim that 'Pakistan got 80% of water' under the deal? What exactly did Nehru say in the speech Jaishankar cited? We explain. The Union Minister said he would mention three observations by Nehru. 'First, he [Nehru] says, I would like to know, is this House now to judge the quantum of supply of water or the quantum of money to be given?.. So the Prime Minister of India then is telling the Parliament, you cannot be a judge of the quantum of water, you should not be looking at how much money we are giving to Pakistan….The Prime Minister then goes on… honourable members have been saying that there was a partition, what has happened is none of our lookout, we should not give them anything… If we follow that approach, it would mean turning a great part of West Punjab into almost a wilderness…So the Prime Minister is saying… should put the interests of Pakistani Punjab. Sir, not a word about the interests of the Kisan of Kashmir, of the people of Punjab.' Jaishankar then further quoted Nehru to say, '…people are saying, you are paying money. We felt that in the circumstances, this is the right payment, and we purchased a settlement, if you like, we purchased peace, and it is good for both countries. In 1960, sir, he says he purchased peace. We did not purchase peace, sir. It was a purchase of appeasement.' The Indus Waters Treaty was negotiated for almost 10 years, with the World Bank acting as a neutral facilitator. The treaty was negotiated not by politicians and diplomats, but by civil engineers. It was the engineers who decided to bifurcate the Indus rivers system into eastern (Sutel, Beas, Ravi) and western rivers (Indus, Jhelum, and Chenab) so as to make the division easier. Otherwise, the six rivers would have needed six agreements, making the negotiations stretch yet longer. Uttam Kumar Sinha, Senior Fellow at the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, New Delhi, who has written two books on the treaty, had earlier told The Indian Express that it was Pakistan's President Ayub Khan who started the claim that his country got 80 per cent of the water under the Treaty, to claim credit for himself. 'Under the treaty, Pakistan got a higher volume of water. The average annual flow of water in the 'western rivers' (135.6 million acre feet) is more than four times that of the eastern rivers (32.6 maf). But India needed the exclusive use of the eastern rivers, which the treaty secured for us. India has since built dams and other water projects on these rivers, including the Bhakra Nangal dam and the Rajasthan canal project now called the Indira Gandhi Canal, which have helped irrigate Punjab, Haryana, and Rajasthan,' Sinha said. 'In return, Pakistan got a much larger portion of the flow of water from the three western rivers but India was entitled to certain use on these rivers such as domestic use, non-consumptive use, agriculture use and generation of hydro-electric power,' he added. Under the treaty, ' non-consumptive use' means 'any control or use of water for navigation, floating of timber or other property, flood protection or flood control, fishing or fish culture, wild life or other like beneficial purposes, provided that, exclusive of seepage and evaporation of water incidental to the control or use, the water (undiminished in volume within the practical range of measurement) remains in, or is returned to, the same river or its Tributaries.' Apart from the division of the waters, India also agreed to pay Pounds Sterling 62,060,000 (around Rs 83 crore) in 10 instalments to Pakistan to build canals and irrigation works, which after Partition had come to India. This was a portion of the whole amount needed by Pakistan, and around 60% of this amount came in grants from other countries, including West Germany, the US, the UK, Canada, New Zealand, and the World Bank. In a long speech, Nehru largely said that the figures arrived at had come after long discussions, and it was difficult to pass opinions on them off-hand in Parliament. He said if all papers related to the treaty had to be presented in the House, a truck would be needed to carry them, and that he would like to congratulate the engineers who fought for India's interests. 'Naturally, one can always say that instead of Rs. 80 crores if we pay Rs.50 crores we will be gainers by Rs 30 crores and if we do not pay anything at all we will be gainers by Rs 80 crores…The decision that we get a free supply of water after that ten-year period and fairly free supply before that within certain limits is a tremendous gain… the mere fact that this has taken twelve years would at least convince the House that nothing, not a comma, not a full stop has been accepted without the longest argument and the closest attention to each detail… I have to congratulate those who had to deal with it, specially our engineers who were there and who fought for India's interests strenuously. They knew—they were experts in this matter—how much water is necessary..,' he said. Nehru also said that despite the Partition, letting a section of Pakistan become a wilderness was hardly desirable, and that in the absence of a Treaty, India too would not be able to benefit from these waters. 'Some hon. Members have been saying that there was partition, what has happened is none of our lookout, we should not give them anything. That is neither a strictly legal, constitutional nor just approach to this problem. If we follow that approach it would mean turning a great part of West Punjab into almost a wilderness…What is more important is not being able to profit ourselves by it, because we cannot build up all these things, if all these remain in a spirit of uncertainty and lack of decision,' he said. Even today, India is not in the position to 'stop water from flowing into Pakistan', because we do not have the dams to hold all that water. Building all such dams will also submerge a large section of India's land. Yashee is an Assistant Editor with the where she is a member of the Explained team. She is a journalist with over 10 years of experience, starting her career with the Mumbai edition of Hindustan Times. She has also worked with India Today, where she wrote opinion and analysis pieces for DailyO. Her articles break down complex issues for readers with context and insight. Yashee has a Bachelor's Degree in English Literature from Presidency College, Kolkata, and a postgraduate diploma in journalism from Asian College of Journalism, Chennai, one of the premier media institutes in the countr ... Read More
Deccan Herald
4 hours ago
- Politics
- Deccan Herald
'Atrocious, shocking': Congress slams Jaishankar's remarks on Nehru, Indus Waters Treaty
In his remarks, Jaishankar said the Narendra Modi government has corrected the wrongs of Nehru's policies by suspending the Indus Waters Treaty.
India Today
5 hours ago
- Politics
- India Today
PM corrected Nehru's mistakes by suspending Indus treaty with Pak: Jaishankar
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Wednesday told the Rajya Sabha that the PM Narendra Modi-led government had "corrected the wrongs" of former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru by suspending the Indus Waters Treaty with Pakistan, saying that "blood and water cannot flow together".Participating in the debate on Operation Sindoor, Jaishankar said that the Indus Waters Treaty, signed in 1960, was not an act of peace but one of were told for 60 years that nothing can be done. Pandit Nehru's mistakes can't be corrected. The Narendra Modi government showed it can be corrected. Article 370 was corrected. The Indus Water Treaty is being corrected," he said, reiterating that the treaty is being held in abeyance until Pakistan irrevocably gives up its support of terrorism. Criticising Nehru's decision, Jaishankar said, "The then PM is saying that let us do this treaty because the Indian government should put the interest of the Pakistani Punjab. Not a word about the interest of the farmers of Kashmir, Punjab, Rajasthan, and Himachal."Referring to Nehru's 1960 statement, Jaishankar said, "He now says that because people are saying, we felt that in the circumstances, this is the right settlement. We purchased peace and it is good for both countries... We didn't purchase peace, we purchased appeasement because within one year, the same PM accepted that with Pakistan, there is no peace."The minister also underlined the "uniqueness" of the agreement. "Indus Waters Treaty in many ways is a very unique agreement. I cannot think of any agreement in the world where a country has allowed its major rivers to flow to the next country without having rights on that," he of the steps taken by India in response to the April 22 Pahalgam attack, which left 26 people dead, was to place the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance, citing cross-border India's experience with cross-border terrorism, Jaishankar stated that the country has been a victim of terror since 1947. "In 2007, 44 people died in Hyderabad. In 2008, the Mumbai attacks of 26/11 happened. In 2008, 64 people died in Jaipur. In Delhi, I am from Delhi and I remember the bomb blast of 2008. We went through a series of it," he said."I am reminding the House because when major terrorist incidents happen, the world watches how India responds."Taking aim at the Congress, he said that after the July 2006 Mumbai train bombings, India resumed its composite dialogue with Pakistan just three months later, at a meeting in Havana. "Instead of holding Pakistan responsible, we said we condemn all forms of terrorism... By the way, we will resume our composite dialogue," Jaishankar the PM Modi government's stance, he concluded: "We had warned that blood and water cannot flow together. Today, we are demonstrating that what we say, we will do. Blood and water will not flow together."- Ends
