India’s envoy to the US, Vinay Mohan Kwatra said Pakistan had eroded the foundation of the Indus Waters Treaty over the past five decades. He added that Islamabad had “dismantled” the goodwill and friendship that underpinned the 1960 agreement, and that New Delhi’s decision to keep the treaty in abeyance merely acknowledged that reality.As reported by US’ Newsweek magazine, Kwatra said the treaty’s preamble reflected a commitment made ‘in a spirit of goodwill and friendship’, but Pakistan’s conduct had weakened that foundation over half a century.“It is worth remembering that the treaty’s preamble declares it was concluded ‘in a spirit of goodwill and friendship’. Pakistan spent half a century dismantling that goodwill and friendship. The abeyance merely acknowledges what Pakistan’s conduct had already destroyed,” Kwatra said.His remarks came after Pakistan recently hosted a conference protesting India’s decision to keep the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) in abeyance on April 23 last year, a day after Pakistan-trained terrorists killed 26 people in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir.The IWT, signed by India and Pakistan in 1960, divided the waters of the six rivers of the Indus basin between the two countries. India was given control over the eastern rivers, Ravi, Beas and Sutlej which account for about 20 per cent of the basin’s water, while Pakistan received rights over the western rivers Indus, Jhelum and Chenab carrying around 80 per cent.“That asymmetry stifled development for decades in Indian regions that could have benefited from better water rights. India honoured the treaty anyway,” Kwatra said according to Newsweek.The envoy said Pakistan’s approach towards India had been marked by wars, hostility and cross-border terrorism, citing the 1965, 1971 and 1999 conflicts along with major terror attacks, including the 2001 Parliament attack, the 2008 Mumbai attacks, the 2016 Uri and Pathankot attacks, the 2019 Pulwama attack and the 2025 Pahalgam attack.Kwatra also said that if Pakistan sincerely wanted India’s cooperation on bilateral issues, it must first dismantle the terror infrastructure it has built over the years.On implementation of the treaty, Kwatra alleged that Pakistan had repeatedly delayed Indian projects and opposed efforts to revisit the agreement in view of changing technology and requirements.“Pakistan also consistently blocked India’s initiatives to renegotiate the treaty in light of six decades of technological change, which would have let India develop its hydropower potential,” Kwatra added.“Bit by bit, Pakistan eroded India’s faith that it could exercise its rights under the treaty, or hope for a better one suited to today’s realities,” he said.Responding to calls for India and Pakistan to resume talks, Kwatra said past initiatives had failed to address core concerns.
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“Prime Minister Narendra Modi has clearly voiced India’s stand today: ‘Terror and talks cannot go together… Terror and trade cannot go together… Water and blood cannot flow together’,” Kwatra said.Kwatra also said Pakistan should focus on improving its own water management instead of blaming India for its challenges.“The Government of Pakistan would do better to fix its dismal water productivity, than to stage conferences blaming India and issuing threats,” he said, adding, “The habit of pinning every domestic failure on India has grown old.”
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