NEW DELHI: India has formally notified Pakistan of its decision to suspend the Indus Waters Treaty with immediate effect, citing repeated violations of the treaty’s terms by Islamabad. In a letter sent on Thursday, Debashree Mukherjee, India’s Secretary of Water Resources, informed her Pakistani counterpart, Syed Ali Murtaza, that continued cross-border terrorism emanating from Pakistan has undermined the treaty framework.The letter stated, “What we have seen instead is sustained cross-border terrorism by Pakistan,” adding that such actions have created “security uncertainties”, which hinder India’s ability to fully exercise its rights under the treaty.India’s move comes just a couple of days after a brutal terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam, where 26 people, including tourists, were killed. Following the attack, India announced on Wednesday that it would put the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance, marking a significant shift in its water-sharing relations with Pakistan.Signed in 1960 after nine years of negotiations and brokered by the World Bank, the Indus Waters Treaty is a landmark agreement that outlines the sharing of water from the Indus River and its tributaries—Sutlej, Beas, Ravi, Jhelum, and Chenab—between the two countries. The World Bank, which played a central role in the treaty’s formulation, is also a signatory.
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