No move to cancel Indus talks: India

With India and Pakistan scheduled to hold talks regarding the 1960 Indus Water Treaty later in March in Lahore, the ministry of external affairs said that New Delhi had “never said” that it would cancel talks pertaining to the treaty. Senior government sources have been maintaining that the move does “not amount to talks between the two governments”, and that there was no “shift” in the Indian government’s position by participating in these talks.

India had accepted Pakistan’s invitation to attend a meeting on the 1960 Indus Water Treaty between the two countries that would take place in Lahore later in March. The move had triggered speculation of a re-think of sorts by New Delhi regarding its approach to talks with Islamabad. Senior government officials had in 2016 reportedly indicated that India would suspend the process of talks, but the MEA on Thursday said there was never any move to cancel talks pertaining to the Indus Treaty.

Senior government sources had recently said that regular meetings of the Indus Commissioners were only to discuss technical matters and not political issues. It may be Narendra Modi had said at an internal meeting that the treaty must be reviewed and that “blood and water could not flow together”. After the meeting in September, officials had indicated that the government decided to suspend further talks and increase the use of rivers flowing through Jammu and Kashmir to fully exercise India’s rights under the pact.

Senior government sources said that regular meetings of the Commission dealt with technical matters concerned with the implementation of the treaty, and “do not amount to talks between the two governments”.