New Delhi: India on Thursday informed Pakistan of its decision to keep the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance with immediate effect, saying Pakistan has breached the conditions of the treaty.
Sustained cross-border terrorism by Pakistan targeting Jammu and Kashmir impedes India’s rights under the Indus Waters Treaty, India’s Secretary of Water Resources, Debashree Mukherjee, said in a letter addressed to her Pakistani counterpart, Syed Ali Murtaza.
“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.
What we have seen instead is sustained cross-border terrorism by Pakistan, the letter stated, noting that these actions have created security uncertainties that impede India’s ability to fully utilise its treaty rights.
India’s decision to suspend the decades-old treaty follows the killing of 26 people, mostly tourists, in a terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam on Tuesday.
The Indus Waters Treaty, brokered by the World Bank, has governed the use of the Indus river and its tributaries between India and Pakistan since 1960.
