Pakistan writes four letters to India asking for the revaluation of the Indus Water Treaty suspension

New Delhi (India) June 8: Pakistan has sent four letters to India asking to reconsider its decision to suspend the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) after the terrorist attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, which claimed the lives of 26 tourists.

Syed Ali Murtaza, the secretary of Pakistan's Ministry of Water Resources, addressed the four letters to the Jal Shakti Ministry. The letters were then forwarded to the External Affairs Ministry (MEA) asking India to resume the IWT.

According to reports, India "remains firm on its decision" and has not yet responded to Pakistan's letters.

The Pakistani side has persisted in maintaining that India cannot unilaterally suspend the treaty and that doing so would be against its terms.

On April 29, Randhir Jaiswal, spokesman of the external affairs ministry, emphasised that negotiations would not begin until the neighbour "credibly and irrevocably abjures cross-border terrorism."

India has stated clearly that trade and terror are incompatible, just as blood and water cannot coexist. Pakistan has promoted cross-border terrorism, which went against the spirit of IWT. The treaty was created on friendship and good faith.

India has stated that the pact will remain in abeyance until Islamabad "credibly and irrevocably" stops supporting cross-border terrorism. 

After the April 22 Pahalgam terrorist attack, the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS), the highest decision-making body on strategic affairs, approved the decision. It is the first time New Delhi suspended a World Bank-brokered deal.

Shehbaz Sharif, the prime minister of Pakistan, has been saying that Islamabad is open to holding peace negotiations with India in order to settle their differences.

All the information relating to the flows of the western rivers the Indus, Jhelum, and Chenab that were given to Pakistan by the 1960 treaty is no longer shared by the Indian side.

This is the first suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty, which survived four wars between India and Pakistan since it was signed in 1960. 

India had been requesting a mutual modification of the treaty even before the Pahalgam attacks. It pointed to the natural changes in the Indus river basin that had reduced India's share in the face of a growing population. 

Pakistan is heavily dependent on the Indus water system for its economy and agriculture due to the treaty's 80:20 water sharing arrangement in favour of the country.

Aadrika Tayal