NEW DELHI, April 25. /TASS/. India’s government is working to cut off the flow of water from the Indus River into Pakistan, Chandrakant Raghunath Patil said.
According to the minister, a roadmap for India’s further steps following the suspension of the 1960 Indus Water Treaty with Pakistan was discussed at a meeting with Interior Minister Amit Shah. He said that three options were looked at. The government, in his words, is working on short-, medium-, and long-term measures to see to it that Pakistan doesn’t receive a single drop of water.
He said that India plans to demineralize rivers to stop the stream and direct it to another waterway.
On Wednesday evening, the Indian foreign ministry announced the immediate termination of the 1960 Indus Water Treaty with Pakistan. The decision was made after New Delhi exposed transborder links between terrorists who committed a terror attack in the tourist town of Pahalgam in northern India (Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir), killing 26, and Pakistan. It will not be changed until Pakistan stops supporting terrorism, the ministry stressed.
Under the Indus Water Treaty, Islamabad was granted control of the Indus and its tributaries, the Chenab and Jhelum flowing from India’s territory. However, India can use their waters to irrigate adjacent agricultural lands and for the needs of people living along them. New Delhi received control over the Beas, Ravi, and Satluj Rivers. The two countries also agreed to exchange data, for which ends the Permanent Indus Commission was set up.
President of the Imagindia Institute, a think tank, Robinder Sachdev told TASS earlier that around 80% of Pakistan’s farming sector depends on irrigation from the Indus system, with key tributaries originating from India-controlled territories. Large Pakistani cities such as Lahore, Karachi, and Islamabad largely depend on these rivers feeding them with drinking water. With the Indus Water Treaty suspended, the effectiveness of the Pakistani farming sector may drop dramatically, as crop yields could fall 20-30% in the coming six to nine months, the expert noted.