World Bank stays neutral amid India-Pakistan Water Conflict

World Bank President Ajay Banga has said that the World Bank has no role other than being the mediator of the Indus Waters Treaty between India and Pakistan. The World Bank President made it clear that it will not take any steps to reverse the suspension of the water sharing agreement imposed by India after the Pahalgam terror attack.

The Indus Waters Treaty was signed with the help of the World Bank in 1960 after nine years of negotiations between India and Pakistan, which is also a signatory to the treaty. "Our role is only that of an intermediary," Press Information Bureau quoted Ajay Banga as saying. There is a lot of speculation in the media about how the World Bank will solve this problem, but this is all nonsense. The role of the World Bank is only that of an intermediary. "

A day after the horrific terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam, in which 26 people, most of them tourists, lost their lives, the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty was suspended with immediate effect until Pakistan completely and credibly refused to extend its support to cross-border terrorism. Banga met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the national capital on Thursday evening. Soon after, there was speculation that the World Bank would intervene in the matter. Separately on Thursday evening, India's Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri highlighted that Pakistan has repeatedly violated the Indus Waters Treaty over the past several years by deliberately creating "legal hurdles". He said it is due to India's patience that India has been abiding by the treaty for the last 65 years.

Addressing a press briefing, Misri said India has been continuously trying to hold talks to discuss amendments to the treaty. "For the last 2.5 years, India has been communicating with the Pakistan government. We have sent several notices to them requesting dialogue to discuss amendments to the treaty. India has been respecting the treaty for more than six decades, even during the period when Pakistan imposed several wars on us. Pakistan has been in breach of the treaty, deliberately creating legal hurdles in India, exercising its legitimate rights over the Western Rivers... It is India's patience that we have been abiding by the treaty for the last 65 years, despite so much provocation," Misri said.

Misri said Pakistan's persistent "refusal to respond to our request" was another factor for the postponement of the treaty. According to the treaty, the western rivers (Indus, Jhelum, Chenab) are allocated to Pakistan and the eastern rivers (Ravi, Beas, Sutlej) to India. At the same time, the treaty gives each country some of the water of the rivers allocated to the other. According to the treaty, 20 per cent of water from the Indus river system is given to India and the remaining 80 per cent to Pakistan.