In a strong statement during his Independence Day address, Prime Minister Narendra Modi asserted India’s exclusive right to its portion of the Indus river waters, deriding the current Indus Water Treaty as unjust and biased. Modi highlighted the treaty’s considerable harm to Indian agriculture, criticizing the agreement for allowing water to irrigate lands outside India while its own farmers suffer.
Modi decisively proclaimed that India would no longer tolerate such an arrangement. ‘These waters belong to India and will serve India’s farmers alone,’ he declared. Pointing to decades of agricultural losses, Modi made it clear that the current agreement was unacceptable for the nation’s interests.
India’s move to challenge the decades-old treaty comes in the wake of a deadly terrorist attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, which claimed 26 lives. Established in 1960 with the World Bank’s mediation, the treaty has dictated water distribution between India and Pakistan for over six decades.
(With inputs from agencies.)
