Pak to boost storage capacity as India stays firm on Indus water decision

Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said the government would build a non-controversial water storage capacity by utilising resources such as the Diamer Bhasha dam and others

Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has said that his government decided to enhance the water storage capacity, as India continued to hold the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) in abeyance.

A day after the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack, India took a series of punitive measures against Pakistan that included putting the Indus Waters Treaty of 1960 in "abeyance".

Pakistan's massive agriculture is dependent on the Indus, Jhelum and Chenab rivers, and any effort to divert water, and even temporarily stop it, may spell disaster for the country.

State-run Associated Press of Pakistan reported that Sharif, during a visit to the National Emergencies Operations Centre on Tuesday, talked about the water issue.

Sharif said the "enemy" wants to take steps against the waters treaty.

"For that, the government has decided that we will build our water storage," he said.

He said the government would build a non-controversial water storage capacity by utilising resources such as the Diamer Bhasha dam and others.

We will build this capacity with our own resources in the next few years. There is a critical role of the National Disaster Management Authority in this," he said.