India on Friday reiterated that its decision to keep the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance remains unchanged, maintaining that the move is a response to Pakistan's continued support for cross-border terrorism.
Addressing a weekly media briefing, MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said India's position on the water-sharing agreement has been consistent since it was suspended in 2025 following the Pahalgam terror attack, in which 26 people were killed.
"The Indus Waters Treaty stands in abeyance in response to Pakistan's continued support for cross-border terrorism," Jaiswal said. He added that Pakistan must "credibly and irrevocably" end its support for cross-border terrorism before the issue can move forward.
India suspended the decades-old treaty as part of a series of measures announced against Pakistan after the April 22 terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam.
The Indus Waters Treaty, signed in 1960 with the World Bank as its broker, regulates the sharing of waters from the Indus river system between India and Pakistan and has remained one of the few bilateral agreements to survive multiple conflicts between the two countries.
India's remarks come days after Pakistan renewed its objection to New Delhi's decision during a seminar held in Islamabad. Pakistan's Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar argued that the treaty remains legally valid and cannot be suspended unilaterally, saying it contains no provision allowing either side to terminate or hold it in abeyance.
New Delhi, however, has maintained that Pakistan's continued backing of cross-border terrorism has fundamentally altered the circumstances under which the treaty has operated. |
