Recent willingness shown by India to participate in the annual meeting of the permanent Indus Waters Commission scheduled to be held in Pakistan this month is a welcome sign that denotes a mutual commitment to uphold an agreement, which has braved periods of massive ruptures in bilateral ties. Largely considered one of the greatest success stories of water diplomacy, the 1960 World Bank-mediated Indus Waters Treaty faced a significant threat last September in the wake of a terrorist attack on an army camp in Uri when Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi resorted to its unprecedented review. Amid his aggressive rhetoric that \u201cblood and water\u201d cannot flow together, and much-touted considerations of any and all retaliatory measures that claimed to make full use of water legally belonging to India, Modi\u2019s war-hysteria led many to fear a possible suspension in bilateral ties. As for Pakistan, showing unrelenting persistence to maintain the decades-old tradition of commissioners meeting every year despite its strong reservations over constructions of new dams by India along the Indus river system is a remarkable testament to its resolve to establish normalcy in the region.
\nNo matter how immaturely both countries might have acted \u2014 invoking the treaty in favour of a neutral arbitrator in the case of Pakistan or India\u2019s much-touted threat to withdraw from the treaty altogether \u2014 during the latest strain the highly volatile framework of their ties, their eventual wisdom should be highly appreciated. More than a mere water agreement, Indus Water Treaty is rightfully honoured as a landmark reminder of the historic cooperation that has stood the test of time and war. The fact that Pakistan, as well as India, have now come to realise that the treaty should neither be suspended nor ignored, is being seen by many as a lowering of rhetoric. Even though officials from both countries are claiming the meeting to only be a \u201ctechnical\u201d development with India insisting that the commissioner\u2019s work cannot \u201camount to talks\u201d between governments, a new breakthrough in an otherwise suspended conversation would, hopefully, soon translate into a resumption of the dialogue process.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Recent willingness shown by India to participate in the annual meeting of the permanent Indus Waters Commission scheduled to be held in Pakistan this month is a welcome sign that denotes a mutual commitment to uphold an agreement, which has braved periods of massive ruptures in bilateral ties. Largely considered one of the greatest success […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-13823","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-editorial"},"yoast_head":"\n