Latest news with #waterconflict
New York Times
17 hours ago
- Business
- New York Times
India and Pakistan's Air Battle Is Over. Their Water War Has Begun.
The drones and missiles have been stilled after India and Pakistan's brief but intense military battle this month. But the two neighbors have turned up the heat on another longstanding conflict, over the sharing of water. A day after terrorists killed 26 people on the Indian side of Kashmir in April, igniting tensions that would lead to four days of escalating conflict, the Indian government said it would suspend a vital pact governing rivers that flow from India into Pakistan. That agreement, the Indus Waters Treaty, covers a river system that tens of millions of people rely on for their livelihoods and survival. India, which linked the April attack to Pakistan, said it would step away from its obligations under the pact until its nemesis 'credibly and irrevocably' renounced support for cross-border terrorism. Pakistan, which denied any role in the terrorist attack, called India's move an 'act of war.' India's targeting of water, however, is not just about combating terrorism, analysts say. The Indian government has been frustrated by the 65-year-old treaty, believing it has favored Pakistan from the start, and analysts say that India is hoping to force Pakistan to renegotiate it. That could allow India to better use its allotted waters to meet the needs of its immense population and adapt to climate change. India's decision to put the agreement 'in abeyance' — and the vague conditions it has imposed on Pakistan to reverse that — has injected a note of uncertainty into the future of a treaty that has survived multiple wars and conflicts. A full breakdown would have serious consequences for both countries, especially Pakistan, an arid land with few other sources of water. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Arab News
3 days ago
- Business
- Arab News
Pakistan says Modi's ‘weaponizing' of water against international norms, its own global ambitions
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's Foreign Office said on Thursday Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's most recent remarks 'weaponizing' the waters of the Indus river were against international norms and exposed the 'stark contrast' between India's conduct in the region and its declared global ambitions. Modi on Tuesday upped the rhetoric in a standoff over water access triggered by a deadly attack in Indian-administered Kashmir in April in which 26 tourists were killed. New Delhi said Islamabad was behind the attack — a charge it denies — and announced a raft of punitive measures including unilaterally suspending the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty. Any move to stop Pakistan accessing the water would have a devastating impact. The Indus treaty, negotiated by the World Bank in 1960, guarantees water for 80 percent of Pakistan's farms from three rivers that flow from India. The nuclear-armed neighbors have already clashed in their worst military fighting in nearly three decades before agreeing to a ceasefire on May 10. 'His [Modi] references to weaponizing water, a shared, treaty-bound resource, reflect a troubling departure from international norms and a stark contrast between India's conduct in the region and its declared global ambitions,' the foreign office said in a statement. 'Pakistan urges India to return to the core principles of international order including respect for sovereign rights of others and its treaty obligations, as well as restraint in both language and action.' The foreign office said such 'jingoism' by Modi would undermine long-term peace and stability. 'India's youth, often the first casualty of chauvinistic nationalism, would do well to reject the politics of fear and instead work toward a future defined by dignity, reason, and regional cooperation.' Modi on Tuesday amplified the resolve to use water from the Indus river system for India, saying provisions of the 'badly negotiated' Indus Waters Treaty were prejudicial to the interests of the country and did not even let it use the waters earmarked for it. Calling out 'decades of silence' over the treaty, he said it had left Indian-administered Kashmir's dams clogged and crippled. Pakistan's Attorney General, Mansoor Usman Awan, said earlier this month India had written to Pakistan in recent weeks citing population growth and clean energy needs as reasons to modify the treaty. But he said any discussions would have to take place under the terms of the treaty. Islamabad maintains the treaty is legally binding and no party can unilaterally suspend it, Awan said. 'As far as Pakistan is concerned, the treaty is very much operational, functional, and anything which India does, it does at its own cost and peril as far as the building of any hydroelectric power projects are concerned,' Awan told Reuters. India and Pakistan have shared a troubled relationship since they were carved out of British India in 1947, and have fought three wars, two of them over the Himalayan region of Kashmir, which they both claim in full but rule in part. India accuses Islamabad of backing separatists in Kashmir, a claim it denies, in turn accusing New Delhi of backing separatist and other insurgents in Pakistan.
Arab News
23-05-2025
- Politics
- Arab News
Islamabad says Indian PM's remarks about Pakistan violate norms of ‘responsible statecraft'
ISLAMABAD: The Pakistani foreign office on Friday criticized Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his remarks in which he warned of economic and military consequences for Pakistan, saying his statement violated 'the norms of responsible statecraft.' Modi said Pakistan will not get water from rivers over which India has rights, and that Pakistan's army and economy will have to 'pay a heavy price for every terrorist attack,' upping the rhetoric in a standoff over water access. India last month said it was suspending the Indus Waters Treaty in a slew of measures after the killing of 26 people in an April 22 attack in Indian-administered Kashmir that New Delhi blamed on Islamabad, a charge Pakistan dismisses. In its response to Modi's comments at an event in Rajasthan, the Pakistani foreign office said such statements not only reflect a 'deliberate attempt to mislead the public but also violate the norms of responsible statecraft.' 'Resorting to threats and boasting about military action against a sovereign nation is a grave breach of the United Nations Charter and established principles of international law,' it said. 'This dangerous approach undermines regional peace and stability.' Any move to stop Pakistan accessing the water would have a devastating impact. The Indus treaty, brokered by the World Bank in 1960, guarantees water for 80 percent of Pakistan's farms from three rivers that flow from India. The nuclear-armed neighbors have already clashed in their worst military fighting in nearly three decades before agreeing to a ceasefire on May 10. Islamabad maintains the treaty is legally binding and no party can unilaterally suspend it, with its Attorney General Mansoor Usman Awan saying that Pakistan is willing to talk about or to address any concerns India may have. The foreign office said Pakistan remains a consistent and proactive partner in the global fight against militancy and any insinuation seeking to associate Pakistan with 'acts of terrorism is factually incorrect and patently misleading.' 'It is a tactic often employed to divert attention from India's own internal challenges, particularly its repressive policies [in Kashmir],' it said on Friday. India and Pakistan share a troubled relationship since they got independence from British rule in 1947, and have fought three wars, two of them over the Himalayan region of Kashmir, which they both claim in full but rule in part. India accuses Pakistan of backing armed separatists in Kashmir. Pakistan denies this and says it only offers diplomatic and political support to Kashmiris. Pakistan's prime minister and military have also accused 'Indian terror proxies' of involvement in a suicide bomb blast on an army school bus in Pakistan's restive Balochistan province that killed five people, including three children, on Wednesday. India rejected the allegation. Both nations have retaliated since the April attack by halting trade, closing borders and suspending most visas. The Pakistani foreign office urged the Indian leadership to exercise restraint, saying such escalatory statements only exacerbate tensions. 'India should demonstrate maturity by resolving outstanding disputes through peaceful dialogue and diplomacy,' it said. 'Pakistan remains firmly committed to peaceful coexistence, regional stability, and constructive engagement. However, our desire for peace should not be misconstrued as weakness... Any misadventure or aggression will be met with a resolute and proportionate response. Pakistan has demonstrated its resolve in the past and will do so again, if required.'
Malay Mail
22-05-2025
- Business
- Malay Mail
Modi: Pakistan must pay ‘heavy price' after Kashmir attack as India restricts water flow
NEW DELHI, May 22 — Pakistan will not get water from rivers over which India has rights, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said today, a month after a deadly attack in Indian Kashmir led New Delhi to suspend a key river water-sharing treaty between the neighbours. The suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty, negotiated by the World Bank in 1960, was among a slew of measures announced by India against Pakistan last month after the April 22 attack that killed 26 men, mostly Hindu tourists. New Delhi had said the attack was backed by Pakistan — an accusation Islamabad denied — and the nuclear-armed neighbours were involved in their worst military fighting in nearly three decades before agreeing to a ceasefire on May 10. 'Pakistan will have to pay a heavy price for every terrorist attack ... Pakistan's army will pay it, Pakistan's economy will pay it,' Modi said at a public event in the northwestern state of Rajasthan, which borders Pakistan. The Indus treaty provides water for 80 per cent of Pakistan's farms from three rivers that flow from India but Pakistan's finance minister said this month that its suspension was not going to have 'any immediate impact'. The ceasefire between the countries has largely held, with Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar saying that there is no exchange of fire currently and 'there has been some repositioning of forces accordingly'. 'The (military) operation continues because there is a clear if there are acts of the kind we saw on April 22, there will be a response, we will hit the terrorists,' Jaishankar told Dutch news outlet NOS. 'If the terrorists are in Pakistan, we will hit them where they are,' he added. There was no immediate response from Pakistan to comments by Modi and Jaishankar. Fencing along the Line of Control (LoC) between India and Pakistan is pictured during a tour organised by the Indian Army for visiting journalists in north of Indian Kashmir, May 19, 2025. — Reuters pic India and Pakistan have shared a troubled relationship since they were carved out of British India in 1947, and have fought three wars, two of them over the Himalayan region of Kashmir, which they both claim in full but rule in part. New Delhi also blames Pakistan for supporting Islamist separatists battling security forces in its part of Kashmir, but Islamabad denies the accusation. The arch rivals have taken several measures against each other since the April attack in Kashmir, including suspension of trade, closure of land borders, and suspension of most visas. — Reuters
Arab News
18-05-2025
- Politics
- Arab News
Pakistan army warns of decades-long ‘consequences' if India blocks Indus waters
RAWALPINDI, Pakistan: The Pakistani military warns that any Indian attempt to follow through on recent threats to cut Islamabad's share of the Indus River water system would trigger consequences lasting for generations, as tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbors are running high. New Delhi unilaterally suspended a decades-old water-sharing agreement with its nuclear-armed neighbor last month, as it blamed Pakistan for a deadly militant attack on tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir — Islamabad denied any involvement. The incident was followed by days of cross-border fire as India launched on May 6 a series of strikes across the Line of Control — the de facto border that separates the Indian-controlled and Pakistani-controlled parts of the disputed Kashmir territory. It also hit other sites on the Pakistani mainland, targeting what it claimed were militant positions. Pakistan retaliated with strikes on Indian military targets before a US-brokered ceasefire took effect on May 10. Despite the ceasefire, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced this week that his country would stop the water from flowing — a move Pakistan has earlier said was a direct threat to its survival and an act of war. Brokered by the World Bank, the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty has withstood multiple Indian-Pakistani wars. If India weaponizes water and blocks the flow of an Indus River tributary — vital to Pakistan's food security — its military says it will act. 'I hope that time doesn't come, but it will be such actions that the world will see and the consequences of that we will fight for years and decades to come. Nobody dares stop water from Pakistan,' Maj. Gen. Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, spokesperson of the Pakistan Armed Forces, told Arab News on Friday. 'It is some madman who can think that he can stop water of 240 million plus people of this country.' India's recent attacks have killed 40 civilians, including 22 women and children, according to Pakistan's official figures. As Pakistan retaliated, it hit 26 Indian military targets. It stopped the retaliatory strikes as soon as the ceasefire was reached. 'Pakistan armed forces are a professional armed forces and we adhere to the commitments that we make, and we follow in letter and spirit the instructions of the political government and the commitments that they hold,' Chaudhry said. 'As far as Pakistan army is concerned, this ceasefire will hold easily and there have been confidence building measures in communication between both the sides.' Both countries have already blamed each other for violating the ceasefire multiple times since it took effect. 'If any violation occurs, our response is always there ... but it is only directed at those posts and those positions from where the violations of the ceasefire happen. We never target the civilians. We never target any civil infrastructure,' Chaudhry said. According to the Pakistani military, India has lost six airplanes and an S-400 air defense system — Russia's most advanced surface to air missile system — in the four-day conflict. Among the downed warplanes were several French aircraft Rafale. Earlier reports suggested India had lost five fighter jets, but Pakistan's prime minister announced earlier this week that there were six. 'I can confirm that the sixth aircraft is a Mirage 2000,' Chaudhry said. 'We only targeted the aircraft ... We could have taken out more, but we showed restraint.' Satellite photos captured after India's strikes on May 6, show significant damage to multiple Pakistani air bases. High-resolution images from Maxar Technologies show large craters on runways and destruction of hangars and support structures at these facilities. Chaudhry said that despite damage to infrastructure, they remained active: 'There are ways through which Pakistan Air Force immediately sets these bases operational — they are all operational.' He warned of a high potential for renewed conflict despite the ceasefire, as long as the core issue, Kashmir, remains unaddressed. Predominantly Muslim, Kashmiri territory has been the subject of international dispute since the 1947 partition of the Indian subcontinent into Hindu-majority India and Muslim-majority Pakistan. Both countries claim Kashmir in full, and rule in part. Indian-administered Kashmir has for decades witnessed outbreaks of separatist insurgency to resist control from the government in New Delhi. In 2019, the Indian government revoked the region's constitutional semi-autonomy and downgraded it from a state to a union territory under New Delhi's direct control. Indian officials have repeatedly said that the move aimed at tackling separatism and bringing economic development and peace to Kashmir. 'Their policy on Kashmir — of oppression and trying to internalize it — is not working,' Chaudhry said. 'Till the time Indians don't sit and talk about Kashmir, then (as) two countries we sit, and we find a solution to it, the conflict potential is there.'
