Blood and water can't flow together, says Modi at meeting on Indus treaty
New Delhi: “Blood and water cannot flow together,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Monday as he met top officials to review a 56-year-old river water-sharing treaty with Pakistan.
The PM’s strong message came as India weighs its options to hit back at Pakistan after the September 18 terror attack in Kashmir’s Uri. The meeting decided to “exploit to the maximum” the water of Pakistan-controlled rivers-Indus, Chenab and Jhelum-flowing from India, as per the Indus Water Treaty. The move comes as pressure grew on India to scrap the pact and corner Pakistan after terrorists backed by it killed 18 Indian soldiers, heightening tension between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.
India’s move to build dams and use the waters in areas of hydro power, irrigation and storage will pressurise Pakistan, and may also be welcomed by the people of Jammu & Kashmir who say the treaty is not fair to them. The meeting also decided to set up an inter-ministerial task force to go into the details and working of the treaty.
“PM’s message was that ‘rakt aur paani ek saath nahin beh sakta’ (blood and water cannot flow together),” a government source said. Attended by National security adviser Ajit Doval, foreign secretary S. Jaishankar, the water resources secretary and senior PMO officials, the meeting noted that a meeting of the Indus Water Commission can "take place only in an atmosphere free of terror".
India to exercise its legal rights
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday met top officials to review a 56-year-old river water-sharing treaty with Pakistan.
Under the treaty signed by then PM Jawaharlal Nehru and then Pakistan President Ayub Khan in September 1960, waters of six rivers — Beas, Ravi, Sutlej, Indus, Chenab and Jhelum-were to be shared between the two countries. India had said last week that “it (the treaty) cannot be a one-sided affair”.
Noting that India — a high riparian state — has been very “generous” to Pakistan as a “goodwill” gesture, government source said a “tough situation” has emerged after the terror strike, and it was
“an appropriate time” to review the treaty. “We have not exploited western rivers fully,” the source said, adding India would exercise its legal rights under the treaty.
Scrapping of the age-old the Indus treaty — off the table for now — would mean millions of acres of parched farmland in Pakistan, and similar actions from China on the river Brahmaputra.
