Indus Water Treaty Favoured Pakistan, Left India With Little Share: Lt Gen Vinod Khandare
Operation Sindoor
, has termed the
Indus Water Treaty
of 1960 as "unfair and biased towards
Pakistan
." Speaking at a Jansamvaad event organised by Janmanch NGO, Khandare stated that the political leadership of the time gave away significant control over India's river resources, leaving the country with a disproportionately small share of the Indus waters.
"The Indus River, originating from the Himalayas, carries a large amount of silt and sludge that used to accumulate in our dams," he said. "We wanted to de-silt it for efficiency, but were told the treaty doesn't permit us. Despite this, we cleaned the river." Khandare pointed out that the river flows from Indian states like Punjab and Haryana into Pakistan's Punjab, significantly boosting their agriculture. "They reaped harvests, earned revenue, and used that very money to fund terrorism against us," he said, underscoring the strategic imbalance the treaty has created.
He added that all that changed in 2016, after a team of experts were appointed to asses and review the pact.
General Khandare also raised alarms over China's covert meteorological manipulation program. According to him, China's Department of Weather Modification, with over 37,000 personnel, has been closely studying Indian monsoon patterns. "We discovered one of their meteorological sensors in the Bay of Bengal," he revealed, adding that China intends to redirect rain clouds meant for the Indian subcontinent towards Tibet and Sichuan.
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The motive, he said, is to support Beijing's industrial shift from its eastern coastal belt to inland provinces.
Touching upon India's evolving defence posture, Khandare highlighted Operation Sindoor as a turning point. "The military had full operational control without political interference, which enabled decisive surgical strikes and air operations like the one at Jabbar Top," he said. The operation targeted terrorist launchpads and training facilities in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, sending a strong message that no safe havens would be tolerated.
Cyber warfare, he warned, is the new front. "Smartphones can now be weaponised. Cyberattacks, like the one that paralysed Estonia in 2008, can happen here too." He called for urgent investment in cyber resilience and civil defence, citing India's inadequate infrastructure—no public sirens in cities like Nagpur, and lack of shelters in urban areas, unlike Europe or Israel. "India's civil defence infrastructure remains alarmingly inadequate in the face of growing conventional and unconventional threats.
Unlike countries like Israel, where every building has a shelter, or Europe, where metros are built underground for protection, Indian cities are ill-equipped. Nagpur, for example, lacks even basic sirens," Khandare said. General Vinod Khandare pointed out that while our armed forces may be battle-ready, the country lacks systems to protect its citizens in times of crisis or war.
He further stressed the need for reforms in India's defence production. "With 41 ordnance factories underperforming, joint ventures and privatisation are no longer optional—they are essential," Khandare concluded by stating that only a self-reliant, strategically alert, and technologically equipped India can deter the evolving threats in a turbulent global order.
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