No Indus Waters Treaty relief for Pakistan? PM Modi's big message during Lok Sabha speech

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday made it clear that the Indus Waters Treaty would continue to be in abeyance, saying that blood and water cannot flow together.

Terming the IWT as a “grave mistake by Nehru”, PM Modi said India suffered a big loss after Nehru signed the treaty and agreed to Pakistan’s demand that India would not clean or desilt the waste that comes into the dam built on the Indian side.

Speaking on Operation Sindoor in the Lok Sabha, the prime minister said India would have had major projects, farmers would get water, drinking water issues would ease, and India could produce more electricity if the deal was not signed.

“Indus Water Treaty was entered into by Nehru that allowed World Bank to decide on fate of water of rivers originating from India…Nehru agreed to give 80 per cent water to Pakistan from rivers originating in India, leaving just 20 per cent for large country like ours,” PM Modi said in the Lok Sabha.

“After sharing waters with Pakistan, Nehru also gave money to Islamabad to build dams,” he added.

Following the Pahalgam terror attack in April, India’s Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) suspended the decades-old Indus Waters Treaty with Pakistan indefinitely.

India and Pakistan signed the Indus Waters Treaty in 1960, with the World Bank as an additional signatory. The pact sought to divide the water of the Indus river and its tributaries equitably between the two countries. Under the treaty, water from three eastern rivers—Beas, Ravi, and Sutlej—was allocated to India, and that from the three western rivers—Chenab, Indus, and Jhelum—to Pakistan.