Modi govt corrected Nehru's mistakes by suspending Indus Waters Treaty: Jaishankar

External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on Wednesday defended India’s decision to suspend the Indus Waters Treaty, saying New Delhi has given a befitting reply to the cross-border terrorism being promoted by Pakistan.

 

“Blood and water will not flow together,” the minister said, participating in a debate on Operation Sindoor in Rajya Sabha.

 

Jaishankar alleged that former prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru signed the water treaty not to buy peace, but for appeasement. 

 

“The Narendra Modi government has corrected the wrongs of Nehru's policies by suspending the Indus Waters Treaty with Pakistan,” he said.

 

The minister noted that the Indus Waters Treaty, in many ways, was a very unique agreement. 

 

“I cannot think of any agreement in the world where a country has allowed its major rivers to flow to the next country without having rights on that river. It was an extraordinary agreement, and it is important, when we have put it in abeyance, to recall the history of this event," he said.

 

Referring to the April 22 Pahalgam massacre, the minister noted that it was a shocking attack for a variety of reasons.

 

“The manner in which people were killed in front of their families, the fact that their religion was asked before killing them, and the intent of destroying the economy of Jammu and Kashmir, which had returned to prosperity and normalcy after the end of Article 370 -- all of this angered the country,” he said.

 

"There had to be severe consequences. There had to be accountability of the perpetrators, and they and their supporters had to be brought to justice.”

 

The foreign minister further claimed that terrorism is now a global agenda because of the efforts of the Modi government. He noted that India managed to get the United Nations’ recognition that the Resistance Front (TRF), the terror outfit behind the Pahalgam attack, is a proxy of Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba.

 

Jaishankar also claimed that Indian diplomacy has successfully got the TRF declared as a terror outfit by the US.

 

“We gave a message that India is not open to mediation, we will not accept nuclear blackmail,” he said.

 

The minister asserted that India has promptly responded to the Pahalgam terror attack and will keep responding whenever it is attacked.

 

Jaishankar dismissed US President Donald Trump’s claims and reiterated that no third country has played any role in the ceasefire between India and Pakistan.

 

“There were no talks between Prime Minister Modi and US President Donald Trump between April 22 and June 16,” he claimed.

India