Operation Sindoor Anniversary: India says Indus Waters Treaty to remain in abeyance until Pakistan ends cross-border terrorism

As India marks the first anniversary of Operation Sindoor, a military operation the country launched against Pakistan to avenge the Pahalgam terrorist attack, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday clarified that the Indus Waters Treaty shall continue to remain in abeyance until Islamabad abjures its support for cross-border terrorism.

“Our position on the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) has been consistent. IWT stands in abeyance in response to Pakistan’s sponsorship of cross-border terrorism. Pakistan must credibly and irrevocably abjure its support for cross-border terrorism,” MEA Official Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said during a weekly press briefing.

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The Indus Waters Treaty, a World Bank-brokered water sharing agreement between India and Pakistan, was put in abeyance as part of an immediate diplomatic response to the Pahalgam attack by The Resistance Front, an outfit linked to the Pakistan-backed Lashkar-e-Tayiba.

Jaiswal further stated that Operation Sindoor gave a befitting reply to Pakistan for its sponsorship of cross-border terrorism.

“The world knows that cross-border terrorism has long been used by Pakistan as an instrument of state policy. We in India have every right to defend ourselves against terrorism. We will continue to work to strengthen the global fight against terrorism,” he said.

What is the Indus Water Treaty?

Indus, which has given India its name, and its five tributaries, have sustained humanity on the subcontinent for millennia.

Both India and Pakistan depend on Indus water for agriculture, irrigation, and electricity, but without the Indus system water, Pakistan would face serious existential threats.

At the time of Partition in 1947, the two countries signed an agreement called the Standstill Agreement to allow the flow of water across the border, and when that agreement expired in 1948, they negotiated for nine long years, mediated by the World Bank, to sign the IWT in September 1960.

The treaty gives India access to the waters of the three eastern rivers: the Ravi, Beas and Sutlej, while Pakistan gets the waters of the three western rivers: the Indus, Jhelum and Chenab, which account for almost 80 per cent of the shared basin’s water.

While India can use the western rivers to generate hydropower and for limited irrigation, it cannot build infrastructure that restricts the flow of water from those rivers into Pakistan, either by storing or diverting their flows.