Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India, on Tuesday, highlighted the suspended Indus treaty in the aftermath of Pahalgam terror attack and said, “Pehle Bharat ke haq ka paani bhi bahar ja raha tha, ab Bharat ka paani, Bharat ke haq me bahega, Bharat ke haq mai rukega aur Bharat ke hi kaam aayega.” (“Earlier, even the water that rightfully belonged to India was flowing out of the country. Now, India’s water will flow for India, will be retained for India, and will be used for India’s own needs.”)
India has suspended the Indus Waters Treaty, a decades-old agreement with Pakistan governing the shared use of key rivers. The move follows escalating tensions and could significantly impact water flow to Pakistan’s agricultural regions.
PM Modi was speaking at an ABP News event.
“For decades, the water of our rivers has been a subject of tension and conflict, but our government, in collaboration with the state governments, has launched a massive campaign to link the rivers. The Ken-Betwa Link Project and the Parvati-Kalisindh Chambal Link Project will benefit millions of farmers.” PM Modi added.
All gates of the Baglihar Hydroelectric Power Project Dam on the Chenab River in Jammu and Kashmir’s Ramban district remain closed, even as a limited volume of water continues to flow downstream.
The Baglihar Dam, a key hydroelectric power project on the Chenab River, has been at the centre of past disputes between India and Pakistan under the Indus Waters Treaty framework.
Pakistan alleged that India has almost entirely stopped the flow of water across the border through the Chenab river as fears of a clash between the two neighbors mount following a terror attack in Pahalgam, Kashmir.
Since Sunday morning, the water flow has been throttled by almost 90% of the usual volume that passes to Pakistan, according to Muhammad Khalid Idrees Rana, spokesman for Pakistan’s Indus River System Authority. The nation had anticipated water supplies to farms would be short by a fifth for the next two months even before this curtailment, he said.
“It’s unprecedented,” Rana said, adding that India typically holds some water daily for electricity generation but releases it every few hours.