'World Bank's role in Indus Water Treaty issue is nothing more than a mediator', statement of Chairman Ajay Banga

The World Bank chief Ajay Banga stated that the World Bank's role in the Indus Water Treaty signed between India and Pakistan is nothing but mediation. Banga also asserted that the international organization would not take any move to rectify India's suspension of the agreement following the Pahalgam attack.

India and Pakistan signed the Indus Water Treaty in 1960 after they negotiated for nine years. The assistance of the World Bank was requested in this treaty. The World Bank signed it, too. Press Information Bureau (PIB) quoted Banga as saying, we are only mediators. There is much speculation in the media about how the World Bank is able to solve this problem. All nonsense. Mediator is the only role of the World Bank.

The terrorists attacked Pahalgam in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir on April 22. The attack killed 26 people, most of them tourists. After this, India suspended the Indus Water Treaty until Pakistan credibly stops its support for cross-border terrorism.

Banga met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the national capital on Thursday evening. Soon after this, there was speculation that the World Bank would intervene in the matter. Apart from this, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri stressed on Thursday evening that Pakistan has repeatedly violated the Indus Water Treaty by deliberately creating legal hurdles in the last several years. He said that it is India's patience that India has been following the treaty for the last 65 years.

Addressing the media, Misri said, India has been continuously trying to hold talks to discuss changes in the Indus Water Treaty. For the last two and a half years, India has been communicating with the Pakistan government. We have sent them several notices requesting talks to discuss amendments to the treaty. India has been honouring the treaty for more than six decades. Even during the period when Pakistan imposed several wars on us, India honoured the treaty. Pakistan has been violating the treaty, deliberately creating legal hurdles for India, exercising its legitimate rights on the western rivers. It is India's patience that despite so many provocations, we have been adhering to the treaty for the last 65 years.