‘I always do what I promise’: Modi warns Pakistan he’s serious about using 100% of Indian river waters

Indian PM Narendra Modi has warned Pakistan he means what he said about not wasting a single drop of ‘Indian water’, after Islamabad stated that any attempt to divert rivers would be viewed as an ‘act of aggression.’

“Once I decide to do something, I always accomplish that,” the PM told an election rally on Friday, slamming the opposition party for allowing a portion of India’s river water to leave the country.

The water over which Haryana’s farmers have the right will not flow to Pakistan now.

However, Pakistani Foreign Minister Muhammad Faisal had accused India of not just planning to utilize its water share to the max, but plotting to actually divert the rivers, and framed the PM’s words as “another glaring example of the fact that the present government of India is bent upon making India an irresponsible and aggressive state that has no regard for human rights or international obligations.” He stated that Pakistan has “exclusive rights” over three western rivers under the Indus Water Treaty. 

Any attempt by India to divert the flows of these rivers will be considered an act of aggression and Pakistan has the right to respond.

Modi pledged during a rally in Haryana earlier this week to “stop” the waters flowing to Pakistan and “bring it to [farmers’] households” in Haryana and Rajasthan, promising supporters that work was already underway on the project.

On Friday, he elaborated on his plan to free farmers in Haryana from dependence on weather, which left India catastrophically dry until the monsoon earlier this month drenched the nation. Modi promised to invest 3.5 lakh crore rupees over the next five years to beef up irrigation systems in the state, including recycling household water for that purpose, along with diverting river waters.

Under the Indus Water Treaty, India and Pakistan share the waters of the six rivers that run through both countries. The 1960 agreement has not been broken despite three wars. India has rights to the waters of the Ravi, Beas, and Sutlej rivers – but about 5 percent of unused water from those rivers currently flows into Pakistan.

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