UNITED NATIONS: Pakistan has lashed out at India at the UN for weaponising water by unilaterally suspending the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) over “baseless” terrorism allegations, calling New Delhi’s actions a direct threat to its agriculture, livelihoods and regional stability.
The exchange between the two neighbours took place at a high-level UN event held ahead of World Water Day on March 22, according to a statement issued by Pakistan’s UN mission on Thursday.
The spat followed a video message by Minister of Climate Change Dr Musadik Malik, who said India’s decision to place the treaty “in abeyance” undermined decades of cooperation and violates international law.
Indian Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Harish Parvathaneni, told the world body that New Delhi would continue to hold the treaty “in abeyance until Pakistan … credibly and irrevocably ends its support for all forms of terrorism” — an allegation that Islamabad has already repeatedly rejected as baseless.
The Indian envoy also claimed that there have been fundamental changes over the last 65 years, adding that “technology for dam infrastructure, growing need for clean energy, climate and demographic changes warrant amendments to the treaty”.
He insisted that India had made several efforts to engage Pakistan to discuss these changes but “all our efforts to discuss modifications to the treaty with Pakistan were rebuffed”.
Pakistan has multiple times offered India to hold a dialogue to settle their disputes, including the water issue.
In a Right of Reply, Pakistan’s Second Secretary Aleena Majeed dismissed India’s claims and reaffirmed Pakistan’s legal position.
She rejected India’s attempt to link the water dispute to terrorism, calling such accusations “entirely baseless” and aimed at deflecting attention from India’s own record of state-sponsored violence and cross-border aggression.
