Diversion of Indus waters by India will lead to war, Salman Bashir, former Foreign Secretary of Pakistan, told The Hindu on Friday.
The initial Pakistani response came after Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday declared in Bathinda that waters of the Indus and Sutlej would be used for supporting agriculture in Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir.
“Agriculture fields can produce gold with water. The waters that belong to India should remain in India. India will not allow its share of the Indus to flow into Pakistan,” said Prime Minister Narendra Modi indicating that India had not utilised the waters properly despite having rights.
“Diverting the waters of the Indus to Punjab is not realistically possible. This cannot be done without triggering a war with Pakistan,” said Mr. Bashir.
“The Prime Minister of India is taking a very short-sighted and naïve approach to the issue,” he added.
Mr. Modi’s statement is significant as it came after weeks of deliberation on the future of the Indus Waters Treaty which is considered as the most successful bilateral treaty as it has survived more than half a century of troubled ties since being sealed in 1960.
Former ambassador Lalit Mansingh however said that India is within its rights to use the waters of the Indus optimally and said that Pakistan should not interpret Mr. Modi’s comments in a negative way.
‘Two schools’
“There are two schools on international treaties. The classical school believes in upholding them. But the realistic school permits their abrogation. But it has to be noted that Prime Minister Modi did not say that India is going to ‘abrogate’ the Indus Waters Treaty.
He just reiterated the position that we can use the waters of Indus for Punjab,” Mr. Mansingh said.
He pointed out that Prime Minister Modi’s declaration in Bathinda was in line with the government’s position in Parliament.
