Islamabad, Aug 12: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said India would not be allowed to snatch “even one drop” of water belonging to Pakistan, amid tensions between the two neighbours.
A day after the Pahalgam terror attack on April 22, India took a series of punitive measures against Pakistan that included putting the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) of 1960 in “abeyance”.
“I want to tell the enemy today that if you threaten to hold our water, then keep this in mind that you cannot snatch even one drop of Pakistan,” Prime Minister Sharif said while addressing a ceremony in Islamabad.
He warned that if India attempted such an act, “you will be again taught such a lesson that you will be left holding your ears.”
A day earlier, former Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari termed the IWT’s suspension an attack on the Indus Valley Civilisation and said the nation would not back down if New Delhi forced it into war.
“We will wait for India to build a dam, and when they do so, we will destroy it,” he was quoted as saying by the Dawn newspaper. “The Indus River is not the Indians’ family property. We have no shortage of resources to undo the Indian designs to stop the river.”
India launched Operation Sindoor on May 7, targeting terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in retaliation for the April 22 Pahalgam attack that killed 26 civilians.
India and Pakistan reached an understanding on May 10 to end the conflict after four days of intense cross-border drone and missile strikes. (Agenciese)
