Pakistan Cites Right To Suspend “All Bilateral Pacts, Including Simla”

New Delhi:

With its back to the wall, Pakistan today decided to mirror India’s actions after the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam, in which 26 tourists were killed. Islamabad threatened to suspend all agreements between the two countries, including the Simla pact of 1972, which validates the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.

India has ordered all Pakistani nationals to leave the country by April 29 and suspended all visas, including medical ones as well as permits given to diplomats and others under the SAARC scheme. New Delhi also announced that the Indus Waters Treaty, which was signed in 1960 and had survived through the wars of 1965, 1971, and 1999, is now suspended indefinitely.

In a tit-for-tat move, Pakistan also announced that it will reduce Indian diplomatic staff at the High Commission to 30 persons. India had announced the same yesterday. Both countries have now declared its air force and naval diplomats and their support staff at the respective High Commissions as Persona Non Grata.

Stung by India’s decision to suspend the Indus Waters Treaty, Pakistan said, “Any attempt to stop or divert the flow of water belonging to Pakistan as per the Indus Waters Treaty, and the usurpation of the rights of lower riparian will be considered as an Act of War and responded with full force across the complete spectrum of national power.”

Pakistan, which faces an acute water shortage, is staring at a grave situation should the Indus and two other rivers – Jhelum and Chenab – which flow into the country be diverted or stopped, with tens of millions of people getting affected.