ISLAMABAD:
Pakistan on Saturday strongly warned New Delhi against any unilateral action on the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT), rejecting what it called “irresponsible claims” by Indian Foreign 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 (MOA) said the landmark water-sharing agreement was an international treaty entered into “in good faith and at considerable cost”, stressing that any violation would undermine regional stability and India’s credibility as a state that claims to respect international law.
“Any unilateral violation of the treaty by India will undermine regional stability and call into question its credibility as a state that claims to respect international legal obligations. Pakistan will take all necessary measures to protect its legitimate rights under the treaty,” the FO said.
The warning comes after remarks reported by Indian media in which Jaishankar accused Pakistan of being a “bad neighbor” and sought to link the IWT to allegations of terrorism.
On Friday, he was quoted by The Hindu as saying: “You can also have bad neighbors … unfortunately we have. When you have bad neighbors … if you look at it towards the West – if a country decides that they will deliberately, persistently, unrepentantly continue with 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 arrangement – the belief was that it was a gesture of goodwill – because of good neighborliness we did it … but if you have decades of terrorism, there is no good neighborliness and you don’t get the benefit of good neighbourliness.”
“You cannot say … Please share water with me, but I will continue with terrorism – it is not compatible,” he added.
Rejecting these allegations, the FO said: “Pakistan categorically rejects the irresponsible allegations of the Indian foreign minister. Once again, India seeks to divert attention from its own troubling 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 case of Kulbhushan Jadhav as “a stark example of organized, state-sponsored terrorism targeting Pakistan.”
“Equally worrying are 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 advocates,” 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 extend full political, moral and diplomatic support to the Kashmiri people in their just struggle to realize their right to self-determination as enshrined in relevant UN Security Council resolutions.”
