India not to restore Indus Waters Treaty with Pakistan: Amit Shah
Monitoring Desk
NEW DELHI: India will never restore the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) with Islamabad, and the water flowing to Pakistan will be diverted for internal use, Home Minister Amit Shah said in an interview with a media outlet on Saturday.
“No, it will never be restored,” Shah said.
“We will take water that was flowing to Pakistan to Rajasthan by constructing a canal. Pakistan will be starved of water that it has been getting unjustifiably,” Shah said, referring to the northwestern Indian state.
The latest comments from Shah, the most powerful cabinet minister in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cabinet, reveal Delhi’s intentions as Islamabad’s hopes for negotiations on the treaty in the near term.
Indian-held Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah on Friday opposed diverting the state’s waters to Punjab and other neighbouring states now that the IWT with Pakistan stands suspended, asking why they should get more water when they already have three rivers while parts of the Union Territory are facing an acute water shortage, India’s Telegraph reported.
“Nobody will take it. At least I will not allow it as of now. First allow us to use our water, then we will talk about others. There is a drought-like situation in Jammu. There is no water in taps,” Abdullah told reporters.
Abdullah was reacting to the purported central government move to conduct a feasibility study for constructing a 113km-long canal to direct the surplus flow from the three western rivers of the Indus water system, the report said.
“Why should I take water to Punjab? There are already three rivers with Punjab (and the other two states) under the Indus Waters Treaty. Did they give us water when we needed it?” he was quoted as having said.
Omar referred to Punjab’s purported refusal to share water during disputes over the Ujh multipurpose project and the Shahpur Kandi barrage in Jammu in the past. “We were in dire straits then but they kept us waiting for years…. After years, some work was done on the Shahpur Kandi barrage,” he said.
