‘Dependent on handouts’: India's sharp retort to Pakistan after Zardari's comments on Kashmir, Indus Waters Treaty

TElling west pakistan to “ call its possess serious challenges related to to evolution”, India stringently countered its hostile neighbour at the global stage after its president, Asif Ali Zardari, alleged that Delhi is “weaponising” water. At the World Summit for Social Development in Doha, Qatar, on Wednesday, November 5, India's minister Mansukh Mandaviya said, “We take strong objection to certain unjustified references made by President of Pakistan yesterday on India in its remarks.”Mandaviya termed Zardari's remarks on the Indus Waters Treaty and Kashmir, among other subjects, “an abuse of an international forum to distract the world from focusing on social development by peddling disinformation against India”.Seeking to set the record straight, the minister said, “On the Indus Waters Treaty, Pakistan has undermined its spirit through sustained hostility and cross-border terrorism. It has also repeatedly misused the Treaty mechanisms to obstruct India’s legitimate projects.”The Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) is an agreement signed between India and Pakistan in 1960. Brokered by the World Bank, it governs the use of the river Indus and its tributaries, allocating the eastern rivers (Ravi, Beas, and Sutlej) to India and the western rivers (Indus, Jhelum, and Chenab) to Pakistan, a division necessitated by the 1947 partition of the Indian subcontinent by the British.‘Pakistan has no right to speak on Kashmir’“As regards the Indian Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan has no locus standi to comment on India’s internal affairs. This is particularly so when it indulges in acts of cross-border terrorism against the citizens of India,” Mandaviya further said, as per his speech shared by the Press Information Bureau and a YouTube livecast.“Pakistan would do well to introspect and address its own serious challenges related to development which has made it dependent on handouts by international community,” he further said.Mandaviya noted that India’s development story is of “transformation at scale”.India's progress path“In the last 10 years, through persistent reforms, convergence of welfare programmes, and digital innovation, approximately 250 million Indians have been lifted out of multidimensional poverty,” said the labour minister, citing figures since the time PM Narendra Modi took office.“Today, 118 million schoolchildren receive nutritious mid-day meals, over 800 million citizens have been provided with food security. Health security has been provided to 425 million Indians and over 37 million houses have been provided to those with low income,” he added.“We remain steadfast on the 17 Sustainable Development Goals agenda of the UN," he declared, attributing it to “Modi ji’s mantra of ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas’ meaning ‘Together we all, Development for all’.”What Zardari had saidPak President Zardari, in his speech on November 4, had alleged that India was “violating” the Indus Waters Treaty.India says it has has “suspended” after a terror attack in Kashmir's Pahalgam that also saw an Indian military response, Operation Sindoor, against Pakistan-based groups.Zardari termed this a serious threat that deprived an entire nation of water. “Water is now being used as a weapon against Pakistan. Violating the treaty means depriving millions of Pakistanis of their right to water,” Zardari said.He also termed Kashmir and Palestine as “struggles” that “two sides of the same coin” where “both peoples are fighting for their right to live with dignity”.