Pakistani authorities have written to their Indian counterparts several times since April to reconsider the decision to suspend the Indus Waters Treaty in response to the Pahalgam terror attack, people familiar with the matter said on Friday. Pakistan’s water resources secretary Syed Ali Murtaza has sent a total of four letters to India’s Jal Shakti ministry since the Indus Waters Treaty was kept in abeyance on April 23. (PTI) India’s decision to keep the six-decade-old Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance until Pakistan “credibly and irrevocably abjures its support for cross-border terrorism” was part of punitive measures unveiled by New Delhi a day after the April 22 Pahalgam attack that killed 26 civilians.

Also Read: Shehbaz Sharif seeks Donald Trump’s mediation as India's delegation corners Pakistan in US Pakistan’s water resources secretary Syed Ali Murtaza has sent a total of four letters to India’s Jal Shakti ministry since then, urging a review of the decision to suspend the treaty. It wasn’t immediately clear when the letters were sent, but a person aware of the matter said that three of the letters were written after Operation Sindoor. The Pakistani side has continued to claim that the treaty cannot be unilaterally suspended by India and that the suspension violates the pact’s provisions, according to people familiar with the communications who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Also Read: Who is Ishaan Tharoor? Shashi Tharoor's son who questioned Congress MP on Pakistan in US The letters were a response to a formal notification on April 24 from India’s water resources secretary Debashree Mukherjee to her Pakistani counterpart about the decision to keep the treaty in abeyance. “The obligation to honour a treaty in good faith is fundamental to a treaty.

However, what we have seen instead is sustained cross-border terrorism by Pakistan targeting the Indian Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir,” Mukherjee had written. There has been no Indian response to Pakistan’s letters so far, with people familiar with the matter saying India “remains firm on its decision.” External affairs ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal reiterated on April 29 that the country would not engage in talks with Pakistan until the neighbour “credibly and irrevocably abjures cross-border terrorism.” The Indian side has stopped sharing all data related to the flows of the western rivers – Indus, Jhelum, and Chenab – that were allocated to Pakistan under the 1960 treaty. Also Read: Malaysia rejects Pakistan’s ‘Islamic solidarity’ attempt to derail Indian delegation’s visit: Report The water sharing arrangement under the treaty stands at 80:20 in favour of Pakistan, making the South Asian nation heavily dependent on the Indus waters system for its economy and agriculture.

Former Union water resources secretary Shashi Shekhar said Pakistan is “desperate” because about a quarter of its gross domestic product depends on the Indus waters. “The consequences of the treaty’s abeyance would be fairly serious I would assume because it can stoke civil unrest too,” Shekhar said. Shekhar revealed that he had recommended suspending or pulling out of the treaty in 2016 as the top water resources bureaucrat.

“But Prime Minister Narendra Modi said water resources should be for benefit of all, but he had warned then that water and flood can’t flow together. And when the Pahalgam attacks took place, the room for talks or tolerance ceased,” he said. Pakistani leaders have responded with strong rhetoric, saying any reduction of water flows allowed under the Indus Waters Treaty will be seen as an “act of war.” The Indus Waters Treaty has survived four wars between India and Pakistan since its signing in 1960, making this the first time the pact has been suspended.

Even before the Pahalgam attacks, India had been asking for the treaty to be mutually reworked, citing natural changes in the Indus river basin that had diminished India’s share amid a burgeoning population.