"Sustained Cross-Border Terror": India Writes to Pak on Halting Indus Treaty

On Thursday evening, India formally notified Pakistan that the Indus water deal will be suspended indefinitely. The reason given for the suspension was continued terror, among other factors. The letter came shortly after Islamabad threatened to suspend all agreements between the two countries, including the 1972 Simla pact, which validates the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.

Pakistan has also announced that it will decrease Indian diplomatic staff at the High Commission, shut its airspace to Indian flights, close its side of the Wagah border crossing, and summon Indian defence, naval, and air advisers to Islamabad.  The letter sent late this evening, from the Union Ministry of Water Resources to Syed Ali Murtuza, Secretary in the Ministry of Water Resources of Pakistan, stated, "The need to honour a contract in good faith is fundamental to a treaty. Instead, we have seen Pakistan's ongoing cross-border terrorism against the Indian Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir."

However, it also stated that Pakistan has continuously rejected India's efforts to resolve specific issues that have arisen as a result of "fundamental changes in the circumstances that have occurred since the Treaty was executed."