‘Pakistan held goodwill in abeyance first’: MEA on Indus Water Treaty suspension

It added that putting the treaty in abeyance is well within India’s rights given the breakdown of trust and the changing geopolitical and environmental landscape.

India’s decision to place the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance is a direct response to Pakistan undermining the very principles of goodwill and friendship that form the foundation of the agreement, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has told a parliamentary committee, according to a PTI report.

The MEA told the committee that Islamabad’s consistent disregard for diplomatic engagement, along with significant changes in the ground realities, such as engineering advancements, climate change, and glacial melt, make a renegotiation of the 1960 treaty imperative, PTI reported.

Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri, while briefing the committee on India’s diplomatic and military response to the April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam, including Operation Sindoor, underscored that the preamble of the treaty explicitly states it was concluded in a “spirit of goodwill and friendship.”

“All these principles have in effect been held in abeyance by Pakistan,” Misri noted.

The MEA added that India’s diplomatic outreach, currently involving seven multi-party delegations visiting 33 countries and the European Union, will continue to emphasise this rationale in defending the government’s decision.

The External Affairs Ministry pointed out that the treaty, brokered in 1960 with support from the World Bank, was designed using the engineering capabilities and river-flow data of the mid-20th century. It argued that the dynamics today are vastly different.

“There is a compelling case for the treaty to be renegotiated to make it fit for the 21st century,” the MEA said, citing changes in climate patterns, glacier melt, demographic shifts, and water availability, in addition to India’s clean energy goals.

The MEA also criticised Pakistan for stonewalling repeated Indian requests for government-to-government negotiations on revisiting the treaty’s terms, despite the significantly altered ground situation.

The ministry further noted that unrelenting cross-border terrorism from Pakistan severely compromises India’s ability to utilize the treaty as intended.

“The unrelenting cross-border terrorism from Pakistan interferes with our ability to exploit the treaty as per its provisions,” the MEA said, as quoted by PTI.

It added that putting the treaty in abeyance is well within India’s rights given the breakdown of trust and the changing geopolitical and environmental landscape.