Islamabad, September 27: Pakistan will approach the UN and the International Court of Justice if India suspended the 58-year-old Indus Waters Treaty, the country's top diplomat Sartaj Aziz said on Tuesday, insisting the revocation of the treaty could be taken as an “act of war”.
“The international law states that India cannot unilaterally separate itself from the treaty,” Aziz, Adviser to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Foreign Affairs, said while briefing the National Assembly on the issue.
He said the unilateral revocation of the treaty could pose a threat to Pakistan and its economy. He said if India violated the treaty Pakistan could approach the International Court of Justice.
“This Indian act can be taken as breach of international peace and hence giving Pakistan a good reason to approach the UN Security Council,” Aziz said.
He said Pakistan is considering drawing the attention of the international community on the dangers of such an action if it is considered seriously.
“Between the two countries, this act of revocation can be taken as an act of war,” he said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday chaired a review meeting of 56-year-old Indus Water Treaty during which it was decided that India will “exploit to the maximum” the waters of Pakistan-controlled rivers, including the Jhelum, as per the water-sharing pact.
The meeting came as India weighed its options to hit back at Pakistan in the aftermath of the Uri attack that left 18 soldiers dead, triggering demands that the government scrap the water distribution pact to mount pressure on that country.
Under the treaty, which was signed by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and Pakistan President Ayub Khan in September 1960, waters of six rivers—the Beas, Ravi, Sutlej, Indus, Chenab and Jhelum–were to be shared between the two countries.
Pakistan has been complaining about not receiving enough water and has gone for international arbitration in a couple of cases.
Commenting on the development, Ahmer Bilal Soofi, a former federal law minister, president, Research Society of International Law, and an advocate in the Supreme Court on the issue, said India had no legal competence under the treaty to revoke it per se on its own as Article 12(4) of the treaty entitles the termination of the treaty only if both India and Pakistan agreed in writing.
He said there is an arbitration clause in the IWT that could be set in motion if India went to that extreme.
“India cannot itself conclude that Pakistan has breached the treaty on any grounds, including mistrust. In case India ‘revokes' the treaty, it literally means it has shunned it,” he said.
Soofi said in case India tried to interrupt water flow into Pakistan as an upper riparian, it would set up a regional state practice which under international law could serve as a precedence and equip China with an argument to consider suspension of the waters of the Brahmaputra.
“India may have already damaged itself by even considering the suspension of water flow as an upper riparian and the Chinese government must be watching Indian moves with interest,” he said. PTI
