ISLAMABAD, Jan 3: Pakistan on Saturday criticized External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar’s recent statements, alleging the comments were intended to divert attention from India’s “troubling record” of “promoting instability” in the region.
Speaking Friday, Jaishankar asserted India’s right to defend its people against “bad neighbours” and stated that a neighbouring country cannot expect New Delhi to share water resources while continuing to spread terrorism, though he refrained from naming any specific nation.
“Pakistan firmly rejects the irresponsible assertions made by the Indian External Affairs Minister,” Foreign Office Spokesperson Tahir Andrabi said in response to media queries.
India “seeks to deflect attention from its own troubling record” as a neighbour that “contributes to regional instability,” Andrabi alleged.
Andrabi emphasized that the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) is an international agreement concluded in good faith at considerable cost, warning that any unilateral violation would undermine regional stability.
He cautioned that Pakistan will take all necessary measures to safeguard its legitimate rights under the treaty.
Following the Pahalgam terror attack on April 22 last year, India implemented a series of punitive measures against Pakistan, including placing the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty in “abeyance.”
The Indus Waters Treaty, brokered by the World Bank, has governed the distribution and utilization of the Indus River and its tributaries between India and Pakistan since 1960.
Andrabi also reaffirmed Pakistan’s commitment to “extend full political, moral, and diplomatic support to the Kashmiri people in their just struggle to realise their right to self-determination.”
