Dar calls India's IWT move dangerous

Says Delhi cannot set aside obligations when inconvenient

ISLAMABAD:

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar on Wednesday said India's unilateral attempt to hold the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) in abeyance had introduced another "dangerous dimension", adding that international obligations cannot be set aside when they become inconvenient.

"India's unilateral attempt to hold the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance has introduced another dangerous dimension. The Treaty is a binding international agreement and contains no provision permitting its unilateral suspension," Dar said while addressing the OIC Contact Group's ministerial meeting on the Indian Illegally-Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) in New York, on the sidelines of the 81st session of the UN General Assembly.

He said the Court of Arbitration had reaffirmed that unilateral action by one party could not deprive the court of its competence and had underscored the continuing force of the Treaty's obligations, including those governing the Western Rivers.

"International obligations cannot be set aside when they become inconvenient. India cannot invoke domestic law to negate Security Council resolutions on Jammu and Kashmir, any more than it can resort to unilateral measures to evade its binding obligations under the Indus Waters Treaty," the foreign minister said.

Dar further said treaties and international commitments must be respected in good faith.

Dar urged the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to intensify diplomatic efforts over IIOJK, saying the bloc's "principled solidarity" needed to be translated into "sustained diplomatic action".

He urged OIC member states to maintain a "unified and visible OIC position" at the UN and other international forums.

Dar also called for the release of "all political prisoners and those arbitrarily detained" and demanded unrestricted access to the disputed territory for the OIC special envoy, fact-finding missions, UN special procedures, international media and independent observers.

He said the people of IIOJK had waited for almost eight decades for the international community to honour what he called a "solemn promise" - their right to determine their own future through a free and impartial process under UN auspices.

According to Dar, India, since August 2019, pursued measures to change the "demographic, political and cultural character" of Jammu and Kashmir.

He said that political and civic space had been systematically restricted, with Kashmiri leaders, activists, journalists and young people facing arbitrary detention and persecution under laws including the Public Safety Act and Unlawful Activities Prevention Act.

Dar also said changes to domicile and land laws, electoral constituencies and voter rolls, along with property demolitions and measures affecting the region's cultural and religious heritage, were used to alter "realities on the ground".

On media freedoms, he said journalists faced "intimidation, surveillance and detention", while the Kashmir Press Club had been forcibly closed and social media accounts blocked.