Pak betrayed India's goodwill on Indus Waters Treaty with terror: Tharoor

India no longer has time for acting based on goodwill unilaterally, says Congress MP in Bogota, Colombia

India offered the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty to Pakistan in a “spirit of goodwill and harmony” but it was “repeatedly betrayed”, said Congress MP Shashi Tharoor in Bogota, Colombia, accusing Islamabad of terrorism.

 

Tharoor, who is leading an all-party delegation to multiple countries to explain India's Operation Sindoor military action against terror infrastructure in Pakistan, made the remarks in Colombia on Thursday (local time).

 

Tharoor asserted that India is only exercising its right of self-defence, news agency ANI reported. He further added that despite terrorism and conflict inflicted by Pakistan, India ensured that the Indus Waters Treaty remains operational.

 

 

"The Indus Waters Treaty was offered by India to Pakistan in the early 1960s in a spirit of goodwill and harmony. Those words occur in the preamble of the treaty; sadly, that goodwill has been repeatedly betrayed by the terrorist actions of the last four decades. Even though we have had terrorism and war inflicted on us, the treaty has remained in place, but this time our government has placed the treaty in abeyance, which means it is in effect suspended. Its operations are suspended until we get satisfactory indication from Pakistan that they're prepared to conduct themselves in that spirit of goodwill that is provided for in the preamble of the treaty."

 

"We are very conscious that we have been a generous neighbour when it comes to the operation of the treaty. We are in an upper riparian state. We have given Pakistan very generously the waters that they are entitled to under the treaty, and we have not even used all the waters we are entitled to under the treaty. But the time for acting based on goodwill unilaterally is frankly no longer with us," said Tharoor.

 

Indus Waters Treaty suspension

 

The Indus Waters Treaty was suspended in April after a terrorist attack in Pahalgam's Baisaran valley claimed the lives of 26 people, mostly tourists. India, in its response to the terror attack, downgraded diplomatic ties with Pakistan and announced a series of punitive measures, including the suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty.

 

The treaty was brokered by the World Bank in 1960. It governs water distribution between India and Pakistan from the Indus River system. 

 

India's stance against terrorism  

 

Tharoor reiterated India's stance against terrorism, adding that the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack, which claimed the lives of 26 people, mostly tourists, cannot go unpunished. He added, "India suffered a grievous terrorist attack on the 22nd of April... When this happened, of course, the world rose to condemn the terrorist attack, but that was as far as it went. There was no action taken, not even by the country where these people had emerged from, Pakistan. Nobody was arrested, and there was no attempt at any prosecution. India decided that this kind of outrage could not go unpunished. On May 7, India chose to strike against known terror bases and launch pads."

 

India launched coordinated missile strikes on terrorist infrastructure at nine locations in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) on May 7 under the code name 'Operation Sindoor'.