Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Apr 25: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday chaired a key meeting to discuss the future course of action regarding the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) with Pakistan, which has been suspended after the terror attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, on Tuesday, which killed 26 people, mostly tourists.
External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, Union Minister for Jal Shakti C.R. Paatil, and senior officials from various ministries attended the meeting in New Delhi at Shah’s residence.
According to government sources, Union ministers deliberated on several suggestions during the meeting. New Delhi is ready to tackle every challenge, including legal, in the course of implementing its decision, the sources said. “Even if Pakistan decides to approach the World Bank, India has readied its response and will counter effectively,” they said.
Earlier on Thursday, New Delhi officially notified its decision citing Islamabad’s sustained cross-border terrorism targeting Jammu and Kashmir. India’s Water Resources Secretary Debashree Mukherjee said in a letter addressed to her Pakistani counterpart, Syed Ali Murtaza, that sustained cross-border terrorism by Pakistan targeting Jammu and Kashmir impedes India’s rights under the Indus Waters Treaty.
“The obligation to honour a treaty in good faith is fundamental to a treaty. However, what we have seen instead is sustained cross-border terrorism by Pakistan targeting the Indian Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir,” the letter read.
Government sources said long-term plans discussed included desilting of the dams, diversion of the river waters, and construction of new dams. Topmost on India’s agenda after putting the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) on hold will be to stop providing hydrological data to Pakistan, which is critical for flood and drought management.
New Delhi is also mulling fast-tracking hydropower projects that have been held up due to the treaty. Pakistan had put objections on project designs or other provisions in more than half a dozen hydropower projects.
India can also add massive electricity capacity to Jammu and Kashmir with new projects after this move. The treaty has provision that India has to provide a six-month notice to Pakistan for any new project work, but now that will not be the case. Sources further said the Centre government has assured that Indians will not face any inconvenience while implementing these decisions.
Jal Shakti Minister CR Paatil said on Friday that India was working on three plans to ensure that Pakistan did not get even a single drop of water. Paatil said New Delhi has three plans — long-term, short-term and midterm — in place to ensure no water supply go to the neighbouring country.
Earlier, J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said the IWT was the “most unfair document” to the people of the Union territory and they have never been in favour of it. “Government of India has taken some steps. As far as Jammu and Kashmir is concerned, let’s be honest we have never been in favour of the Indus Water Treaty,” he told reporters.
Abdullah’s comments come following his meeting with Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, and J&K Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha in Srinagar as well as various trade and commerce bodies to discuss the aftermath of the Pahalgam terror attack.
Asked about the Centre’s decision on IWT, he said J&K has always believed that the IWT has been the “most unfair document to its people.” “Now what the medium to long-term implications to this are, that is something we have to wait to see,” he said.
In response to India suspending the IWT, Pakistan’s National Security Committee had said any attempt by India to block or divert river water under the Indus Waters Treaty would be treated as an “Act of War.” Terming the 1960 agreement a lifeline for its 240 million citizens, Islamabad had claimed the treaty cannot be held in abeyance unilaterally and warned of retaliation “across the complete spectrum of National Power.”
“India’s reckless suspension of the Indus Water Treaty is an act of water warfare; a cowardly, illegal move,” Pakistan’s power minister Awais Lekhari said in a post on X late on Wednesday night.
India and Pakistan signed the Indus Waters Treaty in 1960, with the World Bank as an additional signatory. The pact sought to divide the water of the Indus river and its tributaries equitably between the two countries. Under the treaty, water from three eastern rivers—Beas, Ravi, and Sutlej—was allocated to India, and that from the three western rivers—Chenab, Indus, and Jhelum—to Pakistan.
The treaty gives control over the waters of the three “Eastern Rivers”—the Beas, Ravi, and Sutlej, located in India with a mean annual flow of 41 billion m3 (33 million acre⋅ft)—to India, while control over the waters of the three “Western Rivers”—the Indus, Chenab, and Jhelum, located in India with a mean annual flow of 99 billion m³—to Pakistan.
Meanwhile, Iran on Friday expressed its readiness to use its good offices in Islamabad and New Delhi to help foster greater understanding between the two nations, following heightened tensions after the terror attack in Pahalgam.
Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi, in a post on X said, “India and Pakistan are brotherly neighbours of Iran, enjoying relations rooted in centuries-old cultural and civilizational ties. Like other neighbours, we consider them our foremost priority.”
