Cowardly, extremist to malicious: Pakistan politicians keep making controversial statements against India

India-Pakistan ties have nosedived after the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam. Reports indicate that two individuals from J&K received training in Pakistan to carry out the attack.

The tensions in the relationship between the two nuclear nations have now reached the LOC. The Indian Army effectively responded to firing by the Pakistan military at some places along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday night, military sources said. There were no reports of any casualties.

Meanwhile, in the initial response to the terror attack, India responded with several retaliatory measures: Suspension of the 1960 Indus Water Treaty Closure of the Integrated Check Post at Attari with immediate effect Revocation of all SAARC Visa Exemption Scheme (SVES) visas issued to Pakistanis; holders have been given 48 hours to leave Capping diplomatic staff strength in both missions to 30 personnel by May 1, down from 55.

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Pakistan on Thursday rejected India's suspension of the Indus Water Treaty and said any measures to stop the flow of water belonging to Pakistan under the pact will be seen as an "act of war". The western neighbour also shut its airspace for Indian carriers, suspended 1972 Simla Agreement and halted all trade ties with India.

In addition to this, Pakistan's ministers and politicians have also reacted to India's suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty and its alleged involvement in the brutal attack.

A Pakistan government minister said India's suspension of a river treaty was an act of "water warfare".

"India's reckless suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty is an act of water warfare; a cowardly, illegal move," Pakistan's Power Minister Awais Lekhari said in a post on X late on Wednesday night.

ALSO READ: Pakistan Ministers call India's suspension of Indus Waters Treaty 'cowardly', 'immature' & 'inappropriate'

How has Pakistan's political lobby reacted?
Pakistan's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, as per a Dawn report, said that Pakistan remains fully capable and prepared to defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity against any aggression including water terrorism or military provocation.

“There is no evidence … expressing their anger like this is inappropriate,” he claimed.

“We cannot do anything alone. These announcements seem like a knee-jerk reaction and are immature and presumptuous,” he said in response to India's suspension of the Indus Water Treaty.

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“The quick reaction suggests that this may be a political ploy,” Dar said. “We will appreciate any evidence they present, but their actions are presumptive, politically motivated, and the whole thing is undesirable.”

Pakistan has denied any involvement in the ghastly act. Pakistani Defence Minister and senior leader of ruling PML-N party, Khawaja Asif blamed violence in Jammu and Kashmir on “revolution” and “home-grown” forces within the union territory.

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“Pakistan has no connection with this. This is all home-grown, there are revolutions in different so-called states against India, not one, not two, but dozens, from Nagaland to Kashmir, in the south, in Chattisgarh, in Manipur. In all these places, there are revolutions against the Indian government,” Asif claimed.

Most of the places Asif mentioned have had insurgent movements in past decades, but such activities have largely been controlled by Indian authorities in most states.

“These are home-grown, the people are asking for their rights. Hindutva forces are exploiting the people, repressing minorities and exploiting Christians and Buddhists. They are being killed, this is a revolution against that, it is because of this that such activities are happening there,” Asif contended.

“There is absolutely no connection to us [in this incident]. We don’t support terrorism anywhere under any circumstances and innocent people should not be the target anywhere in any local conflicts,” he said.

ALSO READ: India acts tough after Pahalgam attack: Military options on table, diplomacy downgraded

National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq also reacted to the incident and said, “The immediate accusation against Pakistan after the incident shows Indian malice."

"The aim of India’s conspiracy is to divert attention from the atrocities in Kashmir … The suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty after the false flag operation is condemnable,” he said, as per the Dawn report.

The leaders of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM-P) said India was “fast becoming a religiously extremist state.” They said that it’s now evident that India poses a serious threat not just to regional stability but to global peace as well.

Gilgit-Baltistan's Chief Minister Haji Gulbar Khan said, "India’s stubbornness will prove costly for it; the entire nation is united to give a befitting reply to Indian aggression."

PM Modi vows to punish terrorists
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday declared that the killers of Pahalgam will be pursued "to the ends of the earth" and promised to "identify, track and punish every terrorist and their backers". In his first speech after the brutal attack, the prime minister vowed to punish terrorists behind the strike and said India's spirit will never be broken by terrorism.

ALSO READ: India pulls the plug on Indus Waters Treaty: What it means and how it can hit Pakistan where it hurts most

Modi spoke briefly in English and said, "Friends, today from the soil of Bihar, I say to the whole world India will identify, track, and punish every terrorist and their backers. We will pursue them to the ends of the earth. India's spirit will never be broken by terrorism. Terrorism will not go unpunished."

In the stern message, he said, "Every effort will be made to ensure that justice is done. The entire nation is firm in this resolve. Everyone who believes in humanity is with us. I thank the people of various countries and their leaders who have stood with us in these times."

In a message to Pakistan without naming the country, Modi said he will state it categorically that the terrorists who carried out the attack and those who hatched the conspiracy, they will be punished beyond their imagination. "Punishment will definitely be served."

The prime minister said the willpower of 140 crore Indians will break the back of patrons of terrorism.

Paying condolences to the victims and their families, he said citizens across the country are in mourning over the brutal manner in which terrorists killed 26 innocent civilians in Kashmir on April 22. The nation stands with their families, he said.

Modi, other leaders on the dais and the crowd observed silence to pay homage to the victims of the attack at the beginning of the prime minister's speech.

He said people lost their sons, brothers and husbands and noted that the victims belong to different parts of India, be it Bengal, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Odisha and Bihar.

"Our sorrow and anger are same from Kargil to Kanniyakumari," he said. Peace and security are the most necessary conditions for fast development, he added.

Impact of India's Indus move
The Indus system of rivers comprises the main river -- the Indus -- along with its five left bank tributaries, namely, the Ravi, the Beas, the Sutlej, the Jhelum and the Chenab. The right bank tributary, the Kabul, does not flow through India. The Ravi, the Beas and the Sutlej are together called Eastern rivers while the Chenab, the Jhelum and the Indus main are called as Western Rivers. Its waters are critical to both India and Pakistan.

Pradeep Kumar Saxena, who served as India's Indus Water Commissioner for over six years and has been associated with work related to the IWT, said India, as an upper riparian country, has multiple options.

"This could be the first step towards the abrogation of the Treaty, if the Government so decides," Saxena told PTI.

"Although there is no explicit provision in the Treaty for its abrogation, Article 62 of the Vienna Convention on Law of the Treaties provides sufficient room under which the treaty can be repudiated in view of the fundamental change of circumstances which has occurred with regard to those existing at the time of conclusion of the Treaty," he said.

Last year, India sent a formal notice to Pakistan, seeking the "review and modification" of the treaty. Listing out the steps India could take, Saxena said in the absence of the treaty, India is under no obligation to follow the restrictions on the "reservoir flushing" of the Kishanganga reservoir and other projects on Western rivers in Jammu and Kashmir.

The Indus Water Treaty currently prohibits it. Flushing can help India desilt its reservoir but then filling the entire reservoir could take days. Under the treaty, reservoir filling after the flushing has to be done in August -- peak monsoon period -- but with the pact in abeyance, it could be done anytime.

Doing it when sowing season begins in Pakistan could be detrimental especially when a large part of Punjab in Pakistan depends on the Indus and its tributaries for irrigation. According to the treaty, there are design restrictions on building structures like dams on Indus and its tributaries.

In the past, Pakistan has raised objections over the designs but in future it will not be obligatory to take the concerns onboard. In the past almost every project has been objected to by Pakistan. Notable are Salal, Baglihar, Uri, Chutak, Nimoo Bazgo, Kishenganga, Pakal Dul, Miyar, Lower Kalnai and Ratle.

After the Pulwama terror attack in 2019, the government cleared eight more hydropower projects in Ladakh. The objections may no longer be applicable for the new projects.

There are also operational restrictions on how reservoirs are to be filled and operated. With the treaty in abeyance, these are no longer applicable. Saxena said India can stop sharing flood data on the rivers. This could also prove detrimental to Pakistan, especially during the monsoon when rivers swell. India will now have no restriction on storage on Western rivers, particularly the Jhelum, and India can take a number of flood control measures to mitigate floods in the Valley, Saxena said.

The tours of Pakistan side to India, which are mandatory under the treaty, may now be stopped. At the time of Independence, the boundary line between the two newly created independent countries --- Pakistan and India --- was drawn right across the Indus Basin, leaving Pakistan as the lower riparian and India as the upper riparian.

Two important irrigation works, one at Madhopur on Ravi River and the other at Ferozepur on Sutlej River, on which the irrigation canal supplies in Punjab (Pakistan) had been completely dependent, fell in the Indian territory. A dispute thus arose between two countries regarding the utilisation of irrigation water from existing facilities.

Negotiations held under the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (World Bank), culminated in the signing of the Indus Waters Treaty in 1960.

According to the treaty, all the waters of the Eastern Rivers - Sutlej, Beas, and Ravi with average annual flow of around 33 Million Acre Feet (MAF) is allocated to India for unrestricted use while the waters of Western rivers - Indus, Jhelum, and Chenab with average annual flow of around 135 MAF is allocated largely to Pakistan.

However, India is permitted to use the waters of the Western Rivers for domestic use, non-consumptive use, agricultural and generation of hydro-electric power.

The right to generate hydroelectricity from Western rivers is unrestricted subject to the conditions for design and operation of the Treaty. India can also create storages upto 3.6 MAF on Western rivers, the pact states.