New Delhi: Amid heightened tensions with Pakistan, India on Thursday did not rule out revisiting the Indus Waters Treaty that was signed with Islamabad in 1960.
“I am sure you are aware that there are differences between India and Pakistan on the implementation of the Indus Waters Treaty,” External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup said in reply to a question at a media briefing here on Thursday.
“But this is an issue which is being addressed bilaterally. But let me make a basic point. Eventually, any cooperative arrangement requires goodwill and mutual trust on both sides,” Swarup said.
“For any such treaty to work, it is important there must be mutual trust and cooperation. It can't be a one-sided affair.”
Meanwhile, a high-level UN official said the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty between India and Pakistan has survived “two wars”.
UN Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson made the remark at a General Assembly high-level side event on “water as a source of peace”.
India has already launched a diplomatic blitz against Islamabad following Sunday's cross-border terror attack on an Army base in Kashmir.
The water distribution treaty brokered by the World Bank was signed between the two countries in 1960 after Pakistan's fear that since the source rivers of the Indus basin are in India, it could potentially create droughts and famines in Pakistan during times of war.
According to the agreement, India has control over three eastern rivers — Beas, Ravi, and Sutlej — all flowing from Punjab.
Pakistan, as per the treaty, controls the western rivers of the Indus, Chenab, and Jhelum that flow from Jammu and Kashmir.
Jammu and Kashmir has been demanding a review of the treaty as it robs the state of its rights to use the water of the rivers.
India and Pakistan are currently locked in a diplomatic war after the killing of 18 Indian soldiers in Uri, close to the Line of Control (LoC) with Pakistan.
