Pakistan won't get India's rightful share of water Modi in Bikaner

    Bikaner, May 22 (PTI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday asserted that Pakistan won't get India's rightful share of water and it will have to beg for every penny if it continues to export terrorists.
    India has been maintaining that the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) with Pakistan will remain in "abeyance" until Islamabad "credibly and irrevocably" abjures support to cross-border terrorism.
    A day after the Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 people on April 22, India announced several punitive measures against Pakistan including suspension of the IWT.
    Addressing a public event here, Modi said playing with the blood of Indians will cost Pakistan dearly.
    "And if Pakistan continues to export terrorists, it will have to beg for every penny. Pakistan will not get India's rightful share of water. Playing with the blood of Indians will cost Pakistan dearly. This is India's resolve and no power in the world can shake us from this resolve," he said.
    The IWT, brokered by the World Bank, has governed the use of the Indus river and its tributaries between India and Pakistan since 1960.
    The treaty allocates the eastern rivers -- Sutlej, Beas and Ravi -- to India and the western rivers -- Indus, Jhelum and Chenab -- to Pakistan.
    On April 24, India informed Pakistan of its decision to keep the IWT in abeyance with immediate effect, saying Islamabad has breached conditions of the treaty.
    Sustained cross-border terrorism by Pakistan targeting Jammu and Kashmir impedes India's rights under the IWT, Secretary of Water Resources Debashree Mukherjee said in a letter addressed to her Pakistani counterpart, Syed Ali Murtaza.
    "The obligation to honour a treaty in good faith is fundamental to a treaty. However, what we have seen instead is sustained cross-border terrorism by Pakistan targeting the Indian Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir," the letter read.
    The communication to Pakistan also highlighted "significantly altered population demographics, the need to accelerate the development of clean energy, and other changes" as reasons necessitating a re-assessment of the treaty's obligations.
    It also accused Pakistan of breaching the treaty by refusing to negotiate modifications.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)