India informs Pakistan of its decision to keep Indus Water Treaty in abeyance with immediate effect, saying Pakistan has breached conditions of the treaty. The decision was detailed in a letter from Debashree Mukherjee, India’s Secretary of Water Resources, to her Pakistani counterpart, Syed Ali Murtaza.
Sustained cross-border terrorism by Pakistan targeting Jammu and Kashmir impedes India’s rights under the Indus Water Treaty, the letter said.
“What we have seen instead is sustained cross-border terrorism by Pakistan,” the letter stated, noting that these actions have created “security uncertainties” that impede India’s ability to fully utilise its treaty rights.
India’s decision to suspend the decades-old treaty follows the killing of 26 people, mostly tourists, in a terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam on Tuesday.
The Indus Waters Treaty, brokered by the World Bank, has governed the use of the Indus river and its tributaries between India and Pakistan since 1960.
