India says Indus Waters Treaty will stay in abeyance till Pakistan mends ways

India has reiterated that the Indus Waters Treaty IWT will be held in abeyance till ldquothe global epicentre of terrorrdquo Pakistan mends its waysPakistan ldquomust uphold the sanctity of human life before talking of upholding the sanctity of treatiesrdquo Indiarsquos Permanent Representative P Harish said on Thursday at an event held in the UN to mark World Water DayldquoIndia has always been a responsible upper riparian staterdquo he said ldquoBut responsibility is a twoway street Pakistan must unconditionally abjure terrorism as an instrument of its state policyrdquo as per IANSIndia hits back at Pakistan over IWT cites wars and terror attacksHarish was responding to Pakistans raising of the IWT as if it were an aggrieved party impinging on a highlevel event commemorating International Water Day which focused on the UN Sustainable Development Goal of ensuring access to safe water and sanitation for allAccording to IANS India signed the IWT ldquoin good faith in a spirit of goodwill and friendshiprdquo but ldquoPakistan violated this spirit by inflicting three wars and thousands of terror attacks on Indiardquo he saidldquoTens of thousands of innocent Indians became victims of Pakistansponsored terror attacksrdquo he saidIndia put the IWT signed with Pakistan in 1960 in abeyance after the Pahalgam religionbased terrorist attack last year by The Resistance Front an outfit linked to the Pakistanbacked LashkareTayibaldquoOur patience and magnanimity did not change Pakistanrsquos ways Eventually we were compelled to announce that the Treaty will be held in abeyance until Pakistan the global epicentre of terror credibly and irrevocably ends its support for all forms of terrorismrdquo Harish said reported IANSMoreover a revision to the territory was needed because of ldquofundamental changes over the last 65 yearsrdquo due to technology demographic and ecological changes which Islamabad refused to discuss he saidAll our efforts to discuss modifications to the Treaty with Pakistan were rebuffedrdquo he saidIndia highlights Jal Jeevan Mission at World Water Day eventAccording to IANS on the theme of the meeting held earlier in the week because the World Water Day celebrated on March 22 falls on a Sunday this year he said India placed a high priority to the sustainable development goal of universal access to safe water and sanitationThrough the Jal Jeevan Mission India is implementing one of the worldrsquos largest programmes to provide piped drinking water to rural householdsrdquo he saidLaunched in 2019 the Mission has so far brought safe tap water to 8176 per cent of rural households ndash a total of 158 millionldquoCommunity participation is a cornerstone of this effort with village water committees many of them led by women playing a key role in planning monitoring and maintaining local water systemsrdquo Harish said reported IANSldquoHere at the United Nations our collective efforts can be most impactful when they focus on areas that unite us like strengthening national capacities particularly in developing countries promoting technological innovation and advancing scientific cooperationrdquo he added reported IANSInputs from IANS