Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal on Tuesday said that India will keep the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance until Pakistan “credibly and irrevocably abjures” its support for cross-border terrorism.
Jaiswal’s remarks came days after India and Pakistan agreed to a ceasefire following Operation Sindoor, which marked a flare-up in military tensions between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.
“The Indus Waters Treaty was concluded in the spirit of goodwill and friendship as specified in the preamble of the treaty. However, Pakistan has held these principles in abeyance by its promotion of cross-border terrorism for decades,” Jaiswal said.
India has suspended the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty with Pakistan — a historic World Bank-brokered water-sharing pact — for the first time ever, in response to the deadly April 22 Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The decision to halt the treaty was taken by the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS), the government’s highest decision-making body on national security.