Indus Water Treaty suspension to continue until Pakistan ends terror support: MEA

New Delhi, May 13: India on Tuesday declared that the suspension of the Indus Water Treaty (IWT) with Pakistan will continue until Pakistan “credibly and irrevocably abjures” its support for terrorism.

Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal, addressing a press conference in the capital, said the IWT was concluded in the spirit of goodwill and friendship.

“However, Pakistan has held these principles in abeyance by its promotion of cross-border terrorism for several decades now,” he said.

The decision to put the treaty “in abeyance” was taken by the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) in the aftermath of the cowardly attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam, which killed 26 tourists — including a Nepalese national — in an assault by Pakistan-backed terrorists.

The treaty, brokered by the World Bank, governs the sharing of waters from six rivers between the two countries and has long been considered a cornerstone of India-Pakistan relations, having survived multiple wars and diplomatic breakdowns.

The MEA also reaffirmed India’s consistent position on Jammu and Kashmir, insisting that the issue remains strictly bilateral.

“We have a long-standing national position that any issues pertaining to the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir have to be addressed by India and Pakistan bilaterally. That stated policy has not changed,” Jaiswal said.

He further emphasised that India’s only outstanding issue with Pakistan is the return of territory under its illegal occupation. “The outstanding matter is the vacation of illegally occupied Indian territory by Pakistan,” he stated.

Meanwhile, the MEA reiterated its resolve to press for global action against Pakistan-based terror groups.

Jaiswal described The Resistance Front (TRF) as a front of the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), and confirmed that India will share further evidence with the United Nations Security Council’s 1267 Sanctions Committee to seek its designation as a terrorist organisation.

“For over two years, we have been providing information to the UN Security Council and the Sanctions Committee monitoring team on TRF’s links to Lashkar-e-Taiba. We will be submitting additional material in the coming days,” Jaiswal said.

-With inputs from agencies