Pakistan appeals to India to rethink Indus Water Treaty suspension

Pakistan has appealed to India to reconsider its decision to keep the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) in abeyance, saying that millions of people depend on the water regulated by the 1960 treaty, reported TOI.

The report said that secretary of Pakistan's ministry of water resources, Syed Ali Murtaza, has appealed to India's Jal Shakti ministry secretary Debashree Mukherjee.


The the letter is, however, not completely a request, with Pakistan calling the decision “unilateral and illegal” and “equivalent to an attack on the people of Pakistan and its economy”.

The letter is likely to have been delivered during Operation Sindoor, sources told TOI.

India has refrained from commenting on the letter. However, sources said that the letter will not have any effect on the decision the cabinet committee on security took on April 23 to put the treaty on hold as a retaliation against the killing of tourists in Pahalgam.

Sources in the government referred to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “blood and water cannot flow together” assertion in his address to the nation on Monday.


India has rejected the accusation of the decision to keep the treaty suspended as illegal.
Pak facing pinch of irregular flow
The treaty provides for reconsideration as the change of circumstances and the threshold has been reached due to Pakistan using terrorism as a tool to hurt India, sources told TOI.

“The treaty was negotiated in a spirit of goodwill and good neighbourliness. That is why we persisted with it despite the fact that it was flawed and loaded against India. However, Pakistan’s refusal to rein in the terrorists has knocked the very premise underpinning the treaty,” said a senior source to TOI.

Further, climate change and other ground realities need a relook relook at the design of the dams and other infrastructure that are in place. This also fulfils the criteria of “change of circumstances” in the treat, highly placed sources said, signalling India’s resolve not to reconsider.

In the last few days, India had undertaken flushing and desilting of reservoirs of two hydropower projects, including Baglihar and Salal, on the Chenab river in Jammu and Kashmir. This resulted in the obstruction and irregularity of water flow downstream.

India is not under any obligation to share any data after flushing or opening the gates with Pakistan since the suspension of the treaty. The neigbbouring country as been facing the problem of irregular flow ahead of the upcoming sowing season.