2 days ago
India's Indus Waters Treaty punishment brings Pakistan to its knees, helpless Islamabad begs Modi govt to...
New Delhi: Since the terrorist attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir in April, India and Pakistan's relations have been going through a very difficult phase. After the Pahalgam attack, India immediately suspended the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) that was signed decades ago with Pakistan. This has left Pakistan agitated, and it has written several letters to India regarding this matter.
Following the attack in Pahalgam on April 22, on April 24, Devshree Mukherjee, Secretary of the Ministry of Jal Shakti, sent a letter to Syed Ali Murtaza, Secretary of Pakistan's Water Ministry, making it clear that Pakistan conducts terrorist attacks through cross-border terrorism in India. India also cited technical reasons while informing about the government's decision to annul the Indus Waters Treaty.
Pakistan has written to India four times so far. In these letters, Pakistan requested India to reconsider its decision to suspend the Indus Waters Treaty. Murtaza wrote the first letter to change the decision to suspend the Indus Waters Treaty in the first week of May before Operation Sindoor. After that, the Secretary of Pakistan's Water Ministry wrote three more letters pleading to India to maintain the Indus Waters Treaty. According to sources, the Ministry of Water Power has sent all the letters to the Ministry of External Affairs.
After the Pahalgam terrorist attack, PM Modi made it clear to Pakistan that trade and terror, water and blood, bullet and dialogue cannot coexist. India has begun to formulate major plans regarding the Indus river water. This includes a 130-kilometer canal that will connect water from the Beas River to the Ganga canal, and a proposal to construct a canal to connect the Yamuna as well.
The IWT was a water-distribution treaty between India and Pakistan, arranged and negotiated by the World Bank, to use the water available in the Indus River and its tributaries. It was signed in Karachi on 19 September 1960.
The Treaty gives India control over the waters of the three Eastern Rivers, the Beas, Ravi and Sutlej, which have a total mean annual flow of 41 billion cubic metres. Control over the three Western Rivers, the Indus, Chenab and Jhelum, which have a total mean annual flow of 99 billion cubic metres, was given to Pakistan.
