Indus Waters Treaty was signed not for peace but appeasement: EAM

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Wednesday said the Modi government had corrected the wrongs of the late Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s policies by suspending the Indus Waters Treaty. He further stressed the treaty signed by the then PM was not to buy peace, but for appeasement.

Criticising the previous government for the treaty, Jaishankar said this 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,” he said.

He further said the previous government (of Jawaharlal Nehru) was worried about the farmers of Pakistan Punjab but not about Indian farmers of Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan. The treaty was for appeasement, Jaishankar said.

Underlining that the treaty was done in goodwill and friendship, the External Affairs Minister said, “Since 1960, we have had neither goodwill nor friendship. We have faced terrorism and wars. Such a treaty had to be dealt with and this government dealt with.”

He also addressed opposition parties’ apprehensions over the shortage of storage capacity saying “things will change on the ground”.

“Dams may have taken years to build before. This is the Modi government. Things are different. You will see the change on the ground,” Jaishankar said in response to an opposition member’s apprehension over water storage capacity and fear of floods in Kashmir region during the discussion on Pahalgam attack and Operation Sindoor in Rajya Sabha.

In his hour-long speech, Jaishankar also spoke about India and US talks during the Operation. He said US Vice President JD Vance warned of a massive attack from Pakistan in a few hours. To this, PM Narendra Modi said such an attack would be responded to in a fitting manner and this happened. “At this stage, we got calls saying I think Pakistan is ready to stop fighting”, Jaishankar said. The Opposition members interrupted the External Affairs Minister asking “who called”.

India