India on Tuesday criticized Pakistani Defense Minister Khawaja Asif’s statements, “We will go to war,” regarding the pending Indus Waters Treaty, considering that these statements are Islamabad’s attempts to “cover up its failures and divert attention from its human rights violations.”
New Delhi’s response comes just two days after Asif threatened to launch war against India if Pakistan’s water security was in doubt. Earlier, India said that its decision to keep the Indus Waters Treaty suspended was “unchanged.”
During a weekly press briefing on Tuesday, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said: “With regard to the comments made by the Pakistani Defense Minister, we have seen reports on the matter. Such statements are desperate attempts by Pakistan to cover up its failures and divert attention from its human rights violations. We categorically reject these fabricated allegations with the contempt they deserve.”
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Jaiswal also referred to the ongoing situation in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, saying it is “a direct result of Pakistan’s decades-long policy of systematic economic exploitation, denial of basic rights, and administrative oppression in areas under its forced and illegal occupation.”
The MEA spokesperson said that Pakistan treated civilians in a reprehensible manner, using a policy of extreme brutality, including blocking essential supplies and medicines, shutting down the Internet, and using lethal force against unarmed civilians.
“As you know, many people lost their lives as a result. We hope that the international community will hold Pakistan accountable for its actions, misdeeds and human rights violations,” Jaiswal added.
What did Khawaja Asif say?
Khawaja Asif made his statement against India amid the ongoing water crisis and internal instability within Pakistan.
Following India’s decision to continue suspending the Indus Waters Treaty, Asif told ARY News on Saturday: “The moment we feel that our national security, and water is part of our national security, is threatened, we will go to war against India. Absolutely.”
India had suspended the Indus Waters Treaty in May last year as part of its five major measures against Pakistan after the deadly terror attack in Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir, which killed 26 people.
He claimed that if Islamabad finds evidence that India is acting with “alarming speed” to disrupt water supplies, Pakistan will also consider military action.
While Pakistan’s water crisis has been attributed to gross mismanagement by experts, Asif sought to accuse New Delhi of “weaponizing water”, manipulating flows on the Chenab River, and withholding data.
Indus Waters Treaty
The Indus Water Treaty was arrived at by the World Bank as a water-sharing and information-sharing mechanism between India and Pakistan, for the use of the waters of the Indus River and its five tributaries – the Sutlej, Beas, Ravi, Jhelum and Chenab.
The treaty allocates water from the western rivers (Chenab, Jhelum, and Indus) to Pakistan and from the eastern rivers (Ravi, Beas, and Sutlej) to India for unrestricted use.
India is also permitted to extract water from western rivers for non-consumer, agricultural and domestic uses and hydroelectric power generation.
