India’s Union Home Minister Amit Shah has said that the Indus Water Treaty with Pakistan will never be revived and the water that was flowing into Pakistan will be diverted for domestic use.
India “suspended” its participation in the 1960 treaty after an attack in Indian-administered Kashmir in April that killed 26 people. New Delhi called it a Pakistan-sponsored terrorist attack. Pakistan denied responsibility for the attack, but the two countries fought for several days in what is considered their worst military confrontation in decades.
Although India and Pakistan agreed to a ceasefire last month, Amit Shah told the Times of India in an interview on Saturday that his government would never revive the treaty, which guarantees water to 80 percent of Pakistan’s agricultural land through three rivers originating in India.
He added, “It will never be revived.” We will build a canal and bring the water that was going to Pakistan to Rajasthan. Pakistan will be deprived of the water that it was getting unfairly.’
According to the agreement, India and Pakistan share the water of the Indus basin originating in the Himalayas. In this, India gets control of the Ravi, Sutlej and Beas rivers, and Pakistan gets the water of the Indus, Jhelum and Chenab rivers. The agreement also established the India-Pakistan Indus Commission, which is responsible for resolving water disputes. The agreement has survived despite many tensions and wars between the two countries in 65 years.
However, the comments by Amit Shah, the most influential minister in Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cabinet, have dimmed Islamabad’s hopes of negotiating the agreement in the near future. Pakistan has not yet officially responded to Shah’s comments. However, it has previously said that the agreement does not provide for any unilateral withdrawal and that blocking the water flowing into Pakistan would be considered a “declaration of war.”
Last month, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said, “The agreement cannot be amended or terminated unilaterally by either party, without the consent of both parties.”
Islamabad is already preparing a legal battle under international law against India’s decision to “suspend” the agreement. In an interview with Al Jazeera in April, Pakistani lawyer Ahmer Bilal Sufi said, “India has said it has suspended, but there is no such clause in the agreement. It is also a violation of international norms, where the upstream country cannot stop the supply of water to the downstream country.”
New Delhi-based political analyst Anuttama Banerjee said at the time, “The agreement may survive, but not in its current form. It may come up for review, revision or restructuring. Because new challenges like groundwater crisis and climate change were not included in the original framework of the agreement.”
Source: Al Jazeera