Pakistan on Thursday noted with concern the variation in the flow of the Chenab River, saying that a letter had been written to India seeking clarification on the matter.<\/p>\n
In a weekly press briefing, Foreign Office (FO) spokesperson Tahir Hussain Andrabi talked about the \u201cabrupt variation\u201d in the flow of the Chenab River, noting that it had been in the news in the past week.<\/p>\n
Several media outlets reported this week that India had released water into the Chenab River.<\/p>\n
\u201cPakistan views these variations with extreme concern and seriousness. They allude to unilateral release of water into the Chenab River by India, without any prior notification,\u201d Andrabi said.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur Indus water commissioner has written a letter to his Indian counterpart seeking clarification on the matters in accordance with the procedures enshrined in the Indus Waters Treaty,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAny manipulation of river flow by India, especially at a critical time of our agricultural cycle, directly threatens the life and livelihood as well as food and economic security of our citizens,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe call upon India to respond to the queries raised by the Pakistani Indus water commissioner, refrain from any unilateral manipulation of river flow and fulfil its obligations in letter and spirit under the Indus Water Treaty provisions,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He further said that the Indus Waters Treaty was a \u201cbinding international agreement\u201d, which had been \u201can instrument of peace and security and stability in the region\u201d.<\/p>\n
Under the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty, three rivers that flow westwards \u2014 Indus, Chenab and Jhelum \u2014 were awarded to Pakistan, with India getting three eastern-flowing rivers of the Indus Basin.<\/p>\n
Andrabi said that violating the treaty threatened the \u201cinviolability of international treaties and compliance with international law\u201d and also posed a serious threat to \u201cregional peace, principles of good neighbourliness, and norms governing interstate relations\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe international community must take notice of India\u2019s continued disregard of a bilateral treaty, and counsel India to act responsibly and in accordance with international law and established norms as well as its own obligations,\u201d Andrabi said.<\/p>\n
\u201cPakistan remains committed to the peaceful resolution of disputes and issues with India but will not compromise on the existential water rights of the people of our country,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
In April, India had held the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance following the attack on tourists in occupied Kashmir\u2019s Pahalgam that killed 26 \u2014 an incident New Delhi blamed on Islamabad without evidence. Pakistan termed any attempt to suspend its water share under the treaty an \u201cact of war\u201d, noting the treaty had no provision for unilateral suspension.<\/p>\n
It later said it was considering court action, citing a violation of the 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties.<\/p>\n
In June, the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) \u2014 an organisation that provides framework for international disputes \u2014 issued a Supplemental Award of Competence, stating that India cannot unilaterally hold the treaty in abeyance.<\/p>\n
The supplemental award was issued in a 2023 case that Pakistan brought to the PCA over the design of Indian hydropower projects on rivers that were awarded to Pakistan under the treaty.<\/p>\n
Removal of Indian woman\u2019s hijab
\nDuring his press briefing, the FO spokesperson also talked about Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar pulling down a female doctor\u2019s hijab this week, a move which had invited criticism.<\/p>\n
Noting the incident, Andrabi said that the incident was followed by the \u201cpublic mocking\u201d of a minister from Uttar Pradesh. A minister from Uttar Pradesh had defended Kumar, before backtracking.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe forcible removal of the Muslim woman\u2019s hijab by a senior political leader and subsequent public ridicule of this act are deeply disturbing and warrant strong condemnation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Pakistan on Thursday noted with concern the variation in the flow of the Chenab River, saying that a letter had been written to India seeking clarification on the matter. In a weekly press briefing, Foreign Office (FO) spokesperson Tahir Hussain Andrabi talked about the \u201cabrupt variation\u201d in the flow of the Chenab River, noting that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14292,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14291","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14291","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14291"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14291\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14293,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14291\/revisions\/14293"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14292"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14291"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14291"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14291"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}