India-Pakistan war: World Bank chief Ajay Banga’s BIG statement on Indus Water Treaty, says institution has no…
India-Pakistan war: Amidst heightened tensions that are on the cusp of boiling over into a major India-Pakistan war, World Bank President Ajay Banga Friday made a major statement on the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT), which was held in abeyance by India after last month’s barbaric Pahalgam terror attack.
World Bank merely a ‘facilitator’
Banga said the World Bank has “no role to play” in the Indus Water Treaty– which it brokered between India and Pakistan in 1960– beyond being a “facilitator”.
“We have no role to play beyond a facilitator. There’s a lot of speculation in the media about how the World Bank will step in and fix the problem but it’s all bunk. The World Bank’s role is merely as a facilitator,” an official release by the Press Information Bureau (PIB) quoted Ajay Banga as saying.
Notably, the India and Pakistan signed the Indus Waters Treaty was signed in 1960 after nine years of negotiations mediated by the World Bank, which is also a signatory to the agreement.
A day after the Pahalgam terror attack, where terrorists gunned down 26 civilians, mostly Indian Hindu tourists, in Kashmir, the Indian government kept the the Indus Water Treaty in abeyance with immediate effect, until Pakistan credibly and irrevocably abjures its support for cross-border terrorism.
Won’t step in to fix issues, says WB
The World Bank chief clarified that the global financial institution will not step in to the fix the suspension imposed on the water sharing agreement by India as its role in the treaty is limited to that of a “facilitator”.
Meanwhile, on Thursday evening, Ajay Banga met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi, leading to speculations that the World Bank might step in and interfere in the matter.
‘Pakistan repeatedly violated IWT’
In a press conference on Operation Sindoor on Thursday, India’s foreign secretary Vikram Misri accused Pakistan of repeatedly violating Indus Water Treaty by deliberately creating “legal roadblocks” over the years, adding that India “adhering to the treaty for the last 65 years”, but its patience was wearing out.
Misri said that India was constantly trying to negotiate with Pakistan to discuss modifications of the treaty.
“For the last 2.5 years, India has been in communication with the Government of Pakistan. We have sent several notices to them requesting negotiations to discuss the modification of the treaty. India has been honouring the treaty for more than six decades, even during the period when Pakistan imposed multiple wars on us. Pakistan has been the one acting in violation of the treaty, deliberately creating legal roadblocks in India, exercising its legitimate rights on the Western rivers… It is India’s patience that we were adhering to the treaty for the last 65 years, even after so many provocations,” he said.
The foreign secretary noted Pakistan’s constant “refusal to respond to our request” has been another factor to put the treaty in abeyance.
The Treaty allocates the Western Rivers (Indus, Jhelum, Chenab) to Pakistan and the Eastern Rivers (Ravi, Beas, Sutlej) to India. At the same time, the Treaty allows each country certain waters of the rivers allocated to the other. The treaty gives India 20 per cent of the water from the Indus River System and the rest 80 per cent to Pakistan.
(With inputs from agencies)
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