WASHINGTON(National Times)- Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United States, Rizwan Saeed Sheikh, has rejected India’s portrayal of the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) as an asymmetric arrangement, accusing New Delhi of distorting the agreement’s history, structure, and purpose in an opinion piece published in Newsweek.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIndia has been advancing this narrative with increasing frequency since its unlawful pronouncement in April 2025 to hold the Treaty \u2018in abeyance.\u2019 It appears intended to retrospectively justify a unilateral action that finds no basis either in the Treaty itself or in international law,\u201d Sheikh wrote in the article.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe IWT is a binding international agreement concluded on September 19, 1960 after decade-long negotiations facilitated by the World Bank. It was neither an act of Indian generosity nor a concession to Pakistan.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cTo describe this arrangement as inherently unfair is to disregard circumstances in which the Treaty was negotiated and the carefully calibrated balance embodied in its provisions,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sheikh rejected India’s claims that Pakistan had obstructed Indian hydropower development. \u201cEqually misplaced is the assertion that Pakistan has sought to impede India\u2019s hydropower development.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cPakistan\u2019s recourse to dispute-settlement mechanisms under Article IX is not obstruction but the exercise of rights expressly afforded by the Treaty,\u201d the envoy added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIndia cannot reasonably claim the benefit of the Treaty’s provisions permitting hydropower development while dismissing the technical limitations and dispute-resolution procedures that form part of the same negotiated framework.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sheikh said India’s unilateral decision to place the treaty in abeyance could not change its legal status.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe IWT contains no provision allowing either party unilaterally to suspend it, place it \u2018in abeyance,\u2019 or terminate it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIndia’s unilateral announcement of April 2025 therefore cannot alter the Treaty’s legal status or extinguish the rights and obligations arising under it. The Treaty remains valid, operative and binding,\u201d Sheikh opined.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also criticised India’s use of political and security disputes to justify its position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAny unrelated political or security allegations cannot absolve a state of its obligations under a binding international agreement.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBaseless allegations of terrorism or other bilateral disputes cannot create a unilateral right to suspend, disregard or rewrite the IWT,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sheikh warned that undermining the treaty could have wider regional consequences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cUndermining a time-tested water treaty, with a malicious aim of weaponising transboundary rivers, would not only reduce certainty and predictability, but also pose a serious threat to peace and stability in an already volatile region.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pakistan, he said, remained committed to the agreement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cPakistan remains committed to the faithful implementation of the IWT in its letter and spirit. India should rescind its unilateral measures, return to full compliance with its Treaty obligations, and engage through the institutional and dispute-resolution mechanisms established under the Treaty,\u201d Ambassador Sheikh stressed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
WASHINGTON(National Times)- Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United States, Rizwan Saeed Sheikh, has rejected India’s portrayal of the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) as an asymmetric arrangement, accusing New Delhi of distorting the agreement’s history, structure, and purpose in an opinion piece published in Newsweek. \u201cIndia has been advancing this narrative with increasing frequency since its unlawful […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":132114,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-132113","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest_news","entry"],"yoast_head":"\n