NEW DELHI, May 14: India on Tuesday said the punitive diplomatic and economic measures it announced against Pakistan following the Pahalgam attack, including the suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT), will remain in place.
External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said India will keep the IWT in abeyance until Pakistan “credibly and irrevocably” abjures its support for cross-border terrorism.
He said the treaty was concluded in a spirit of goodwill and friendship but Pakistan has held these principles in abeyance by promoting cross-border terrorism.
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A day after the April 22 Pahalgam attack, India announced a raft of punitive measures against Pakistan including suspension of the IWT and downgrading of diplomatic ties in view of cross-border links to the attack.
Jaiswal also responded to Pakistan foreign office calling India’s new approach to counter cross-border terrorism as an attempt to fabricate “narratives to justify aggression”.
In his reaction, he said Pakistan is only “fooling itself” if it thinks it can escape the consequences of nurturing “terrorism on an industrial scale”.
“The terrorist infrastructure sites that India destroyed were responsible not only for the deaths of Indians but of many other innocents around the world,” he said.
“There is now a new normal. The sooner Pakistan gets used to it, the better,” he added.
Jaiswal also responded to claims by Pakistan’s foreign minister Ishaq Dar in an interview to CNN in which he claimed that the Pakistani military beat Indian armed forces.
“In the last week, as a result of Operation Sindoor, Pakistan has seen its terrorism centres in Bahawalpur, Muridke, Muzaffarabad and other places destroyed,” the MEA spokesperson said.
“Thereafter, its military capabilities were significantly degraded by us and key airbases effectively put out of action. If the Pakistani foreign minister wishes to project these as achievements, he is welcome to do so,” he said.
He added: “Till the night of May 9, Pakistan was threatening India with a massive assault. Once their attempt failed (on the morning of May 10) and they received a devastating Indian counter-response, their tune changed and their DGMO eventually reached out to us.”
India carried out precision strikes on terror infrastructure early on May 7 following which Pakistan attempted to attack Indian military bases on May 8, 9 and 10.
The Pakistani actions were strongly responded to by the Indian side by inflicting heavy damages to a number of key Pakistani military installations including air bases, air defence systems, command and control centres and radar sites.
Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri on Saturday evening announced that India and Pakistan reached an understanding to stop all firings and military actions on land, air and sea, with immediate effect. (PTI)
