Plans to corner Pakistan are afoot, with PM Modi calling a meeting to decide the ‘Most Favoured Nation’ status accorded to the country in 1996. (file photo)
India on Tuesday took its first concrete step in piling pressure on Pakistan over the rise in cross-border terrorist attacks. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will skip the SAARC Summit, scheduled to take place in Islamabad in November. Plans to corner Pakistan are afoot, with Modi calling a meeting to decide the ‘Most Favoured Nation’ status accorded to the country in 1996. He will chair the meeting on September 29 which will see top officials of the Ministry of External Affairs and Commerce Ministry in attendance. The prime minister has already been briefed on the Indus Waters Treaty, where India decided to exploit the eastern rivers to the maximum. At the meeting, Modi was quoted saying, “rakt aur paani ek saath nahin beh sakta (blood and water cannot flow together)”.
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The risk of India turning off the Indus tap has evoked a strong response from Pakistan. Advisor to Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Foreign Affair, Sartaj Aziz on Tuesday said India cannot unilaterally distance its self from the treaty and insisted that revocation of the treaty can be taken as an “act of war”.
“The international law states that India cannot unilaterally separate itself from the treaty,” Aziz said, while briefing the National Assembly on the issue.
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India has also put the squeeze on Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit, with Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar summoning him today for the second time since the Uri attack. The Pakistan envoy was presented with evidence that the Uri attack had origins from Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir. He also revealed that probe agencies has identified one of the Uri terrorist, and that he was from Muzaffarabad. Two guides who helped the four terrorists infiltrate the Army camp in Uri have also been identified and taken into custody, Jaishankar said.
On Monday, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj gave a stinging reply to Sharif’s address at the 71st session of the United Nations General Assembly. In her reply to Pakistan, Swaraj said that India offered friendship but got Pathankot and Uri in return. She also asked Pakistan to abandon the Kashmir dream as it is an integral part of India. Swaraj also raised the issue of human rights abuse in Balochistan.
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