Bogota (Colombia), May 30 (ANI): Congress leader and Member of Parliament Shashi Tharoor, who is leading a multiparty delegation to Colombia, on Thursday (local time) said that the Indus Waters Treaty was offered by India to Pakistan in a spirit of goodwill and harmony, but that goodwill has been repeatedly betrayed over the years due to terrorism sponsored by Pakistan. He stated that India is only exercising its right of self-defence.

Speaking in Bogota, Colombia, Tharoor stated that despite terrorism and conflict inflicted upon India for decades, the treaty has remained operational. However, the current Indian government has now placed the treaty in abeyance.

'The Indus Waters Treaty was offered by India to Pakistan in the early 1960s in a spirit of goodwill and harmony. Those words occur in the preamble of the treaty; sadly, that goodwill has been repeatedly betrayed by the terrorist actions of the last four decades. Even though we have had terrorism and war inflicted on us, the treaty has remained in place, but this time our government has placed the treaty in abeyance, which means it is in effect suspended. Its operations are suspended until we get satisfactory indication from Pakistan that they're prepared to conduct themselves in that spirit of goodwill that is provided for in the preamble of the treaty. We are very conscious that we have been a generous neighbour when it comes to the operation of the treaty. We are in an upper riparian state. We have given Pakistan very generously the waters that they are entitled to under the treaty, and we have not even used all the waters we are entitled to under the treaty. But the time for acting based on goodwill unilaterally is frankly no longer with us...'

The Indus Waters Treaty, brokered by the World Bank and signed in 1960, governs the distribution of water from the Indus River system between India and Pakistan. The treaty has withstood multiple wars and diplomatic crises, but recent tensions have prompted fresh discussions on its future.

Reiterating India's firm stance against terrorism, Tharoor said that the country decided that the Pahalgam terror attack could not go unpunished and launched strikes against terrorist infrastructure under Operation Sindoor.

Addressing the media in Bogota, Tharoor said, 'India suffered a grievous terrorist attack on the 22nd of April... When this happened, of course, the world rose up to condemn the terrorist attack, but that was as far as it went. There was no action taken, not even by the country where these people had emerged from, Pakistan. Nobody was arrested, and there was no attempt at any prosecution. India decided that this kind of outrage could not go unpunished. On May 7, India chose to strike against known terror bases and launch pads.'

He further underlined Pakistan's complicity, stating, 'There (in Pakistan) was a well-publicised funeral of one of the terrorists on the sanctions list. That funeral was attended by uniformed senior military and police personnel from Pakistan. That is the extent of complicity that we are seeing between the terrorists who perpetrate crimes of this nature and those who finance, guide, train, arm, and equip them and do provide them safe haven to continue their training and their other awful deeds.'

Tharoor also expressed disappointment with the Colombian government for offering condolences over the loss of lives in Pakistan instead of expressing solidarity with the victims of the Pahalgam terror attack, saying, 'We were a little disappointed in the reaction of the Colombian government, which apparently expressed heartfelt condolences on the loss of lives in Pakistan after the Indian strikes, rather than sympathising with the victims of terrorism.'

The Shashi Tharoor-led delegation to Colombia includes Shambhavi Chaudhary (Lok Janshakti Party), Sarfaraz Ahmed (Jharkhand Mukti Morcha), G M Harish Balayogi (Telugu Desam Party), Shashank Mani Tripathi, Tejaswi Surya, Bhubaneswar Kalita (all from BJP), Mallikarjun Devda (Shiv Sena), former Indian Ambassador to the US Taranjit Singh Sandhu, and Shiv Sena MP Milind Deora. (ANI)