News Brief
"Pakistan Will Be Starved Of Water...": Here's What Amit Shah Said On Restoration Of India-Pak Indus Water Treaty
Confluence of Indus and Zanskar Rivers in Ladakh, India (File Photo)
Union Home Minister Amit Shah has categorically ruled out any restoration of the Indus Waters Treaty with Pakistan, stating that the water flowing to the neighbouring country will be diverted for domestic use.
In an interview with Times of India, Shah said that "Pakistan will be starved of water" that it has been getting "unjustifiably".
India had suspended the 1960 treaty, which governs the usage of the Indus river system, after the terror attack in Jammu and Kahsmir Pahalgam, in which 26 people, mostly tourists, were brutally killed by Pakistan-backed terrorists.
The agreement had ensured water supply to nearly 80 per cent of Pakistan’s farmlands via rivers originating in India.
The treaty remains suspended even after both nuclear-armed neighbours declared a ceasefire last month following some of their fiercest hostilities in years.
"No, it will never be restored," Shah was quoted as saying by ToI in response to a question on whether the Indus Water Treaty will be restored in future.
The latest comments from Shah have dimmed Islamabad's hopes for negotiations on the treaty in the near term.
Recently, India launched a feasibility study for a proposed 113 km canal aimed at diverting surplus water from the Chenab River in Jammu and Kashmir to the states of Punjab, Haryana, and Rajasthan.
The proposed canal is expected to link with existing canal infrastructure at 13 different points, enabling efficient water distribution across regions.
It is designed to optimise the utilisation of India’s share of waters from both, the eastern rivers, Ravi, Beas, and Sutlej, and the western rivers, Indus, Jhelum, and Chenab, under the Indus Waters Treaty.
The treaty remain suspended even as Pakistan foreign ministry had earlier claimed that the agreement has no provision for one side to unilaterally pull back and that any blocking of river water flowing to Pakistan will be considered "an act of war".
