PM to review Indus Waters Treaty today

Narendra Modi is expected to take stock of the 56-year old Indus Water Treaty.

NEW DELHI: As pressure mounts on the Union government for concrete action against Uri attack, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to take stock of the 56-year old Indus Water Treaty on Monday. Sources indicate that the Prime Minister has summoned all officials concerned for the meeting and is expected to discuss all the pros and cons of cancelling the treaty. “For such a treaty to work, cooperation and trust between both sides are essential,” MEA spokesperson, Vikas Swarup had asserted last week. “It cannot be a one-sided affair,” he said, noting that the preamble of the treaty was based on ‘goodwill’.

The treaty, signed by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and Pakistan President Ayub Khan in 1960, allocates 80 per cent of water from the six-river Indus water system to Pakistan. Beas, Ravi, Sutlej, Indus, Chenab and Jhelum form the Indus water system that flows from India to Pakistan. The pact is the only international agreement in the world that mandates an upper-riparian State (India) to part the majority share of water with downstream State (Pakistan). The treaty, brokered by the World Bank, has withstood three wars and the Kargil conflict between the two countries.

Meanwhile, drawing a parallel between the angst in the country after the Uri attack and the 1965 war, Modi on Sunday asserted that any act of terror would not go unpunished as the Army does not speak but shows valour. “This cowardly act was enough to shake the entire country. There is mourning as well as angst,” Modi said. 

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