Pakistan writes to India with an 'appeal': Reconsider Indus waters decision

While the confrontations at the India-Pakistan border have simmered, Islamabad is still feeling the wrath of India with New Delhi’s decision to keep the Indus Water Treaty in abeyance . In light of this, Pakistan has appealed to India to reconsider its decision, citing the dependence of millions of people on the water, which was regulated by a treaty signed back in 1960.

It is pertinent to note that India put the Indus Water Treaty into abeyance shortly after the devastating Pahalgam terror attack that led to the death of 26 tourists. India also imposed other security measures after it was found out that two of the attackers involved in the incident were Pakistani nationals , and terrorists had associations with the Pakistani terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba.

According to The Times of India, the appeal was made in a letter by the Secretary of Pakistan’s Ministry of Water Resources, Syed Ali Murtaza, to India’s Jal Shakti Ministry Secretary, Debashree Mukherjee. In the letter, the Pakistani minister called India’s decision “unilateral and illegal” and “equivalent to an attack on the people of Pakistan and its economy”.

The letter was sent during Operation Sindoor

Sources close to the matter told TOI that the letter would likely have been delivered while Operation Sindoor was underway. On May 7, India launched precision strikes against nine terror camps in Pakistan, leading to a three-day-long military escalation, which ultimately ended with both nations coming to an understanding of a ceasefire.

As per the report, New Delhi refrained from commenting on the “appeal.” Sources told the news outlet that the letter would not affect the decision that the cabinet committee on security took on April 23 to put the treaty on hold. When asked further about the matter, government sources recalled Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s speech in which he said, “Blood and water cannot flow together.”

From the beginning, India has rejected the allegations that the decision to suspend the treaty was “illegal”. Meanwhile, Pakistan is currently struggling due to the irregular flow of water as the sowing season ushers in.

Sources told TOI that the treaty does not provide for reconsideration because of the change of circumstances, with Pakistan “using terrorism as a tool to hurt India”. “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,” a senior source told the news outlet.

In the past few days, India has undertaken the task of flushing and distilling the reservoirs of two run-of-the-river hydropower projects — Baglihar and Salal — on the Chenab River in Jammu and Kashmir. This led to a rise in the water level downstream and irregularity in the flow of water. The irregular water flow is also affecting farmers in Pakistan who are preparing themselves for the sowing season.

With inputs from agencies.