NEW DELHI — India on Thursday issued a sharp rebuke to Pakistan Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar after he brought up Jammu & Kashmir and the suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) during an ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) meeting in Manila.
In response to Dar's remarks before External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and other regional leaders, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal dismissed the comments as a "cynical" attempt to exploit a multilateral forum to spread state-sponsored disinformation.
"The Union Territories of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh have been, are, and will always remain integral and inalienable parts of India. Pakistan has no locus standi to comment on them," Jaiswal affirmed.
Indus Waters Treaty Suspension Tied to Cross-Border Terror
Clarifying New Delhi’s stance on the water distribution pact—which India placed in abeyance following last year's Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 civilians—Jaiswal reiterated that the treaty will remain suspended until Islamabad takes concrete steps against terror networks.
"The Indus Waters Treaty stands in abeyance in direct response to Pakistan’s continued sponsorship of cross-border terrorism," Jaiswal stated, adding that the pact will not be revived until Pakistan "credibly and irrevocably abjures its support for cross-border terrorism."
The spokesperson also criticized Pakistan’s use of religious terminology like 'Fitna al-Hindustan' to deflect from its domestic challenges, advising Islamabad to dismantle terror infrastructure on its soil rather than lecturing its neighbors.
