ISLAMABAD:
Pakistan on Saturday strongly warned New Delhi against any unilateral action on the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT), rejecting what it called “irresponsible statements” by India’s External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and accusing India of trying to divert attention from its own destabilizing behavior in the region.
In a statement, the Ministry of External Affairs (FO) said the historic water-sharing agreement was an international treaty entered into “in good faith and at considerable cost”, highlighting that any violation would undermine regional stability and India’s credibility as a state claiming to respect international law.
“Any unilateral violation of the treaty by India would undermine regional stability and call into question its credibility as a state claiming to respect international legal obligations. Pakistan will take all necessary measures to safeguard its legitimate rights under the treaty,” the FO said.
The warning comes after statements published by the Indian media in which Jaishankar accused Pakistan of being a “bad neighbor” and tried to link the IWT to accusations of terrorism.
On Friday, The Hindu quoted him as saying: “You can also have bad neighbours…unfortunately, we do. When you have bad neighbours…if you look at the West, if a country decides that it will deliberately, persistently and unrepentantly continue terrorism, we have the right to defend our people against terrorism.”
Referring to the Indus Waters Treaty, Jaishankar further said, “Many years ago we agreed to a water sharing agreement (the belief was that it was a goodwill gesture) because we were doing it out of good neighbourliness… but if you have decades of terrorism there is no good neighborliness and you don’t get the benefit of good neighbourliness.”
“You can’t say… Please share water with me, but I will continue with terrorism; that is not reconcilable,” he added.
Rejecting these claims, the FO said, “Pakistan strongly rejects the irresponsible claims made by India’s External Affairs Minister. Once again, India seeks to divert attention from its own worrying record as a neighbor that promotes terrorism and contributes to regional instability.”
The FO said India’s “documented involvement in promoting terrorist activities in the region, particularly in Pakistan, is well known”, and cited the Kulbhushan Jadhav case as “a clear example of organised, state-sponsored terrorism directed against Pakistan”.
“Equally worrying are the recurring cases of extraterritorial killings, sabotage through proxies and covert support to terrorist networks. This pattern is consistent with the extremist ideology of Hindutva and its violent proponents,” the FO said.
The statement also reaffirmed Pakistan’s position on Jammu and Kashmir. “India continues its illegal and violent military occupation of Jammu and Kashmir. Pakistan remains steadfast in its commitment to provide full political, moral and diplomatic support to the people of Kashmir in their just struggle to realize their right to self-determination, enshrined in the relevant UN Security Council resolutions.”
