India will never restore Indus water treaty with Pakistan, Shah says
India will never restore the Indus Waters Treaty with Islamabad, and the water flowing to Pakistan will be diverted for internal use, Home Minister Amit Shah said in an interview on Saturday.
India put into 'abeyance' its participation in the 1960 treaty, which governs the usage of the Indus river system, after
26 civilians in Indian Kashmir were killed in what Delhi described as an act of terror. The treaty had guaranteed water access for 80 per cent of Pakistan's farms through three rivers originating in India.
Pakistan has denied involvement in the incident, but the accord remains dormant despite a ceasefire agreed upon by the two nuclear-armed neighbours last month following their worst fighting in decades.
'No, it will never be restored,' Shah said.
'We will take water that was flowing to Pakistan to Rajasthan by constructing a canal. Pakistan will be starved of water that it has been getting unjustifiably,' Shah said, referring to the northwestern Indian state.
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