India has formally put the Indus Waters Treaty with Pakistan on hold, declaring the decision a matter of national interest and dismissing Islamabad’s objections as inconsequential.
Water Resources Minister C.R. Patil announced the development on Thursday, confirming that Prime Minister Narendra Modi personally made the call to suspend the decades-old water-sharing agreement. “The move will benefit the country,” Patil said at a press briefing.
Asked whether India plans to renegotiate the pact or respond to repeated letters from Pakistan protesting the suspension, Patil made it clear that such correspondence will have no impact. “Writing letters is a natural process… these things keep happening. But there is no forward movement, no change,” he said.
When pressed on whether India had stopped the flow of water across the border, the minister responded bluntly: “In one line, I can say, water isn’t going anywhere.”
Patil also criticized Pakistan’s former foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto for his recent threats, in which Bhutto warned of war if Pakistan were denied its share of river waters. “Whatever Bilawal has to say, that is his question, his politics. He even threatened that if water stops, blood will flow. We are not scared by threats from jackals,” Patil retorted.
India suspended the treaty a day after 26 people were killed by terrorists in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, on April 22 — an attack New Delhi has blamed on Pakistan-based groups. The suspension coincided with Operation Sindoor, India’s military offensive targeting terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir.
Before the suspension, India had been urging Pakistan to renegotiate the agreement, arguing that natural changes in the Indus basin had eroded India’s share of water even as demand grew with a rising population. The treaty originally allocated about 80% of the water flow to Pakistan and 20% to India.
On future plans for hydropower development, Patil declined to share specifics but confirmed that a detailed project report for the long-delayed Tulbul navigation project — also called the Wullar Barrage — is under active review. “Answers to certain questions are available only at an appropriate time. This is also in the interest of the country,” he said.
Officials have indicated that suspending the treaty clears the way for India to accelerate power projects along the Indus rivers on its side of the border. The move also releases India from its obligation to share hydrological data with Pakistan, according to former Union Water Resources Secretary Shashi Shekhar.
(This story is published from a syndicated feed)