Foreign Office criticises Jaishankar for his remarks on Pakistan
Pakistan on Saturday criticised External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar for his remarks about the country, claiming that the comments were made to deflect attention from India’s own “troubling record” of “promoting instability” in the region. Jaishankar on Friday said India has every right to defend its people when it comes to “bad neighbours” and asserted that a neighbouring country cannot ask New Delhi to share water if it continues to spread terrorism in the country.
He, however, did not name any country. “Pakistan firmly rejects the irresponsible assertions made by the Indian External Affairs Minister,” Foreign Office Spokesperson Tahir Andrabi said in a statement to media queries. Once again, India “seeks to deflect attention from its own troubling record” as a neighbour that “contributes to regional instability”, Andrabi alleged.
He also said that the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) is an international agreement concluded in good faith and at considerable cost, and any unilateral violation would undermine regional stability. He warned that Pakistan will take all necessary measures to safeguard its legitimate rights under the treaty.
A day after the Pahalgam terror attack on April 22 last year, India took a series of punitive measures against Pakistan that included putting the Indus Waters Treaty of 1960 in “abeyance”. The Indus Waters Treaty, brokered by the World Bank, has governed the distribution and use of the Indus River and its tributaries between India and Pakistan since 1960.
