Indus treaty to remain in abeyance till Pak ends terror: India at UN
Making its stand clear at the United Nations, India has said the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) would remain in abeyance until Pakistan ends its support for cross-border terrorism.
Addressing the UN Security Council meeting in New York late on Friday, India's Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Parvathaneni Harish, said Pakistan was spreading "disinformation" on the IWT.
He was addressing the UNSC meeting on "Protecting Water in Armed Conflict – Protecting Civilian Lives".
Harish said, "India has announced that the treaty will remain in abeyance until Pakistan, which is a global epicentre of terror, credibly and irrevocably ends its support for cross-border terrorism. It is clear that it is Pakistan which remains in violation of the treaty."
"India showed extraordinary patience and magnanimity throughout this period," said Harish, adding that Pakistan's "state-sponsored cross-border terrorism in India seeks to hold hostage the lives of civilians, religious harmony and economic prosperity".
The Indian Ambassador pointed out that India had formally asked Pakistan to discuss modifications to the treaty on several occasions in the past two years but Islamabad rejected it.
"Pakistan's obstructionist approach continues to prevent the exercise of full utilisation of legitimate rights by India," he said.
The Ministry of External Affairs at a briefing here earlier this week had told a parliamentary committee about the changes in the ground situation in the Indus basin. The MEA had listed the need to use modern day-engineering techniques, climate change and the melting of glaciers to argue that a renegotiation of the treaty's terms was imperative.
Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri had noted in his briefing that the 1960 treaty in its preamble says that it is concluded in a "spirit of goodwill and friendship". All these principles had in effect been held in abeyance by Pakistan, he added.
Earlier in the day at the UN, Harish delivered a strong response to Pakistan at a UNSC open debate on "Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict", calling out Pakistan's "grossly hypocritical" behaviour and asserting that a nation that makes no distinction between terrorists and civilians has no credentials to speak about protecting civilians.
After Pakistan's Ambassador at the UN, Asim Iftikhar, Ahmad raked up the Kashmir issue and spoke about the recent conflict between the two nuclear-armed countries, Harish slammed Islamabad's baseless allegations. He said India experienced decades of Pakistani-sponsored terrorist attacks across its borders.
