KARACHI: Pakistan on Saturday accused India of showing a “brazen disregard” for international agreements after New Delhi said it would not restore the decades-old Indus Waters Treaty and divert river waters for internal use.
India put into “abeyance” its participation in the 1960 treaty, which governs the distribution of the Indus river system between the two countries, after 26 civilians in Indian-administered Kashmir were killed in an April gun attack.
India blamed Pakistan for the incident, though it denied any involvement. The accord remains dormant since then despite a ceasefire agreed upon by the two nuclear-armed neighbors last month following their worst fighting in decades.
Islamabad’s statement over the issue came after Indian Home Minister Amit Shah gave an interview to the media, saying New Delhi would not reinstate the treaty that guarantees water access for 80 percent of Pakistan’s farms through rivers originating in India.
“The statement reflects a brazen disregard for the sanctity of international agreements,” Foreign Office Spokesperson Shafqat Ali Khan said in a statement. “The Indus Waters Treaty is not a political arrangement, but an international treaty with no provision for unilateral action.”
