India Hints At Revisiting Indus Waters Treaty As Retaliation Against Pak Perfidy At Uri

India has sent out strong hints that it plans to revisit the Indus Waters Treaty as its answer to Pakistan sponsoring terrorism and terrorists. External Affairs spokesperson Vikas Swarup said on Thursday:

“There are differences on the treaty. For any such treaty to work, it is important there must be mutual trust and cooperation. It can’t be a one-sided affair.”

The treaty is very generous towards Pakistan, which has been showing its gratitude to India’s munificence by launching terror attacks . The treaty, brokered by the World Bank in 1960, is one of the world’s most lopsided and inequitable water pacts and gives Pakistan much more than it deserves as a lower riparian state.

As strategic affairs expert Brahma Chellaney exhorts in this recent article, Pakistan can be easily and effectively punished by India through abrogating the treaty on its own. There is nothing that stops India from doing so. India must tell Pakistan, suggests Chellaney, that the continuation of the treaty will depend on Pakistan’s good behaviour towards India.

The unjust treaty gives control to India over just three rivers -Beas, Ravi and Sutlej- that flow through Punjab before entering Pakistan. Pakistan has control over Indus, Chenab and Jhelum that flow from Jammu & Kashmir before entering Pakistan. All the rivers originate in India and this is the only treaty in the world that gives complete rights on the flow of rivers that originate in an upper riparian state (India) to a lower riparian state (Pakistan). Jammu & Kashmir has long been demanding a review of the treaty as it robs the state of its rights to use the water of its own rivers.