India and Colombia can collaborate to 'drill through' the carbon mountain: BJP MP Shashank Mani

Bogota (Colombia), May 30 (ANI): BJP MP Shashank Mani, a member of the delegation led by Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, highlighted the potential for India and Colombia to collaborate on clean energy and climate solutions during discussions in Bogota.

Speaking on the occasion, Shashank Mani said, "Countries like India, because if you look at the per capita carbon emission that we have, it's dramatically lower than either China or the USA...There is a great deal of learning that both Colombia and India can share in this matter...We have a very strong electrical scooter industry, but we are also making decentralised energy solutions...There are two discussions to be had between our two great nations, one of which is about how do we not climb up the carbon mountain, but drill through it and second is energy is a manifestation of a way of life and if that way of life is decentralized, then perhaps both Colombia and India can collaborate on that, perhaps starting with the solar alliance."

The remarks underscored the importance of sustainable development and renewable energy cooperation between India and Colombia, with an emphasis on lowering carbon emissions and promoting decentralised energy solutions.

Amid these discussions on global collaboration, Congress leader and Member of Parliament Shashi Tharoor, who is leading the multiparty delegation to Colombia, also addressed matters of national security. On Thursday (local time), Tharoor said that the Indus Waters Treaty was offered by India to Pakistan in a spirit of goodwill and harmony, but that goodwill has been repeatedly betrayed due to terrorism sponsored by Pakistan. He asserted that India is only exercising its right of self-defence.

Speaking in Bogota, Tharoor added that despite decades of terrorism and conflict inflicted upon India, the treaty remained operational. However, the current Indian government has now placed it in abeyance, reflecting a shift from unilateral goodwill to a firm stance on national interest and security.

"The Indus Waters Treaty was offered by India to Pakistan in the early 1960s in a spirit of goodwill and harmony. Those words occur in the preamble of the treaty; sadly, that goodwill has been repeatedly betrayed by the terrorist actions of the last four decades. Even though we have had terrorism and war inflicted on us, the treaty has remained in place, but this time our government has placed the treaty in abeyance, which means it is in effect suspended. Its operations are suspended until we get satisfactory indication from Pakistan that they're prepared to conduct themselves in that spirit of goodwill that is provided for in the preamble of the treaty," Tharoor said.

He added, "We are very conscious that we have been a generous neighbour when it comes to the operation of the treaty. We are in an upper riparian state. We have given Pakistan very generously the waters that they are entitled to under the treaty, and we have not even used all the waters we are entitled to under the treaty. But the time for acting based on goodwill unilaterally is frankly no longer with us."

The Tharoor-led multiparty delegation includes Shambhavi Chaudhary (Lok Janshakti Party), Sarfaraz Ahmed (Jharkhand Mukti Morcha), G M Harish Balayogi (Telugu Desam Party), Shashank Mani Tripathi, Tejaswi Surya, Bhubaneswar Kalita (all from BJP), Mallikarjun Devda (Shiv Sena), former Indian Ambassador to the US Taranjit Singh Sandhu, and Shiv Sena MP Milind Deora.

The all-party delegation, consisting of representatives from seven national political groups, was initiated to counter Pakistan's misinformation and underscore India's zero-tolerance policy on terrorism. (ANI)

(The story has come from a syndicated feed and has not been edited by the Tribune Staff.)