ISLAMABAD: Pakistan said on Tuesday a group of British-Pakistani lawyers has committed to form a task force to mobilize legal and diplomatic support for the country’s right to the continued flow of river waters after India announced it was suspending participation in the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) earlier this year.
The IWT, brokered by the World Bank in 1960, divides control of the Indus basin rivers between the two nuclear-armed neighbors. New Delhi decided to hold the treaty “in abeyance” after a gun attack in Indian-administered Kashmir in April that killed more than 26 tourists, for which it accused Pakistan.
Islamabad denied any involvement, calling New Delhi’s decision both illegal and “an act of war.”
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, who is currently visiting the United Kingdom where he has met officials to deepen bilateral ties, addressed the British-Pakistani Lawyers Forum where he also highlighted the issue.
“In his address, the DPM/FM emphasized that the 1960 World Bank brokered agreement, which governs 80 percent of Pakistan’s freshwater resources and sustains the lives of 240 million people, cannot be unilaterally suspended or held in abeyance,” the foreign office said. “He underscored the treaty’s critical importance to Pakistan’s water security and ecological stability.”
“The attending lawyers unanimously condemned India’s actions as a form of ‘water warfare,’ and committed to establishing a UK-based legal task force,” it added. “The task force will focus on defending Pakistan’s rights under the treaty and mobilizing international legal and diplomatic support.”
India and Pakistan fought a four-day war in May in the wake of the militant attack in Kashmir, using fighter jets, drones, missiles and artillery under the nuclear shadow, before US President Donald Trump announced a ceasefire on May 10.
Pakistan has consistently raised the IWT issue at international forums, calling India’s suspension unilateral and illegal and noting that the treaty does not allow either side to withdraw.
