NEW DELHI: External affairs ministry on Friday strongly rejected Pakistan’s remarks at the Asean Regional Forum and reiterated that India’s position on the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) remains unchanged, saying the treaty will remain in abeyance until Pakistan ‘irrevocably and credibly’ ends its support for cross-border terrorism.The MEA also dismissed Pakistan’s allegations that India had deliberately caused flooding in Pakistan, calling the claims ‘baseless’ and attributing the rise in the Chenab river’s water level to heavy monsoon rainfall.Addressing a weekly media briefing, MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said Pakistan had used the Asean forum to raise issues that India had already rejected.“On the ASEAN forum, Pakistan utilised it to make certain remarks. On that, we have made categorical rejections of the issues raised through our press release. You would have seen our statement. On the Indus Waters Treaty, our position remains unchanged and very clear. The Indus Waters Treaty remains in abeyance until Pakistan irrevocably and credibly abjures its support for cross-border terrorism,” Jaiswal said.The remarks came a day after India categorically rejected Pakistan’s comments at the Asean Regional Forum in Manila, accusing Islamabad of using the multilateral platform to spread ‘state-sponsored disinformation’ and divert attention from its record of sponsoring cross-border terrorism.Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister and foreign minister Ishaq Dar, who represented Islamabad at the forum, raised the Jammu and Kashmir issue and criticised India’s decision to keep the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance.India responded by stating that Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh ‘have been, are and will always remain integral and inalienable parts of India’ and that Pakistan had no locus standi to comment on the matter.Responding to another question during the briefing, Jaiswal rejected Pakistani media reports alleging that India had deliberately caused flooding in Pakistan by manipulating river flows.“We have seen Pakistani media reports alleging that India is deliberately causing flooding in Pakistan and such allegations are baseless and contrary to the facts,” he said.Jaiswal said the recent increase in the Chenab river’s flow was caused by intense monsoon rainfall over Jammu and adjoining catchment areas between July 20 and 23.He observed that Pakistan’s own Flood Forecasting Division in Lahore had, in its advisory issued on July 22, attributed the high flood levels in the Chenab to heavy rainfall over the upper catchment and had forecast that the high flows would gradually recede as rainfall decreased.“The rise in river flows is, therefore, a natural hydrological response to heavy monsoon rainfall and not the result of any deliberate action by India. Attempts to portray a weather-driven flood event as an upstream intervention are factually incorrect, technically untenable, and contradicted by Pakistan’s own official flood advisories,” Jaiswal said.He also rejected allegations that India had failed to issue flood warnings, saying river flows during the period did not reach levels requiring special alerts.“Any suggestion that India deliberately withheld flood-related information is, therefore, without factual basis. Nevertheless, like last year, India will share high-flood data with Pakistan on humanitarian grounds, through diplomatic channels as and when a situation arises,” he added.External affairs minister S Jaishankar attended the Asean-India, East Asia Summit and Asean Regional Forum ministerial meetings in Manila over the last two days.
