India
This decision came right after the cancellation of talks between external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj and her Pakistani counterpart Shah Mahmood Qureshi, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) session in New York
New Delhi: India, on Wednesday, has decided to shelve the inspection of its two hydropower projects on the Chenab river by Pakistani experts—Pakal Dul and Lower Kalnal—a decision taken during the talks on Indus Water treaty between the two countries in August.
The Indian authorities said that it would not be possible due to the local-body elections in Jammu and Kashmir, Dawn news quoted a source as saying.
This decision came right after the cancellation of talks between External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and her Pakistani counterpart Shah Mahmood Qureshi, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) session in New York.
Qureshi, on Tuesday, subtly blamed India for cancelling the talks.
"I can say a lot but I don’t want to worsen the situation, we want peace. Only a few words can worsen the situation," said Qureshi, according to ANI.
However, MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said that the meeting was cancelled due to two recent “deeply disturbing developments”. Firstly, the brutal killings of Indian security personnel by Pakistan-based entities and secondly, the release of a series of 20 postal stamps by Pakistan glorifying terrorists.
The August talks involving the Water Commissioner PK Saxena was the first time that India and Pakistan discussed Indus Water Treaty since Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan was elected the Prime Minister.
The Indus Water Treaty was signed in 1960 with the aim to chalk out a mechanism for cooperation between the two countries regarding their use of the Indus river and its tributaries.
With inputs from PTI
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