Ajay Banga, the President of the World Bank, has said the following about Indus Water Treaty: “There is no provision in the treaty to allow for suspension the way it was drawn up. It either needs to be gone, or replaced by another one, and that requires the two countries to want to agree.”

He further stated that the Bank plays no decision-making role in the Indus Waters Treaty and acts solely as a facilitator: “We have to pay the fees of those guys through a trust fund that was set up at the Bank at the time of creation of the treaty. That’s our role. We have no role to play beyond that.”

The writer is fond of looking at the pedigree to determine the discourse by a person. The sensible statement of Mr Banga, a person of Indian origin, reflects the nobleness of the pedigree.

The search revealed that Mr Banga’s family is originally from Jalandhar, Indian Punjab. His father, Harbhajan Singh Banga, is a retired lieutenant-general of the Indian army.

This mind-set is completely different from that of Narendra Modi, who has jeopardized the lives of 1.7 billion (population of India and Pakistan) living in this area since he came to power in 2014; especially, through a misadventure on May 6 and 7, 2025. Though Mr Modi has a Master’s Degree; however, he has not worked in any organisation ever to understand realities. He has misunderstood the dynamics of history, culture and mind-set of the people on both sides of the line of control. Now I dwell on some historical facts.

The Indus Water Treaty, which governs the sharing of waters of the Indus River system between India and Pakistan, was indeed signed on September 19, 1960, and subsequent protocols were signed on November 27, and December 2 and 23 of the same year. It is not a bilateral document. It is a tripartite treaty. The third party is the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (World Bank).

It may be considered one of the most comprehensive treaties for water distribution where matters relating to waters of six rivers were settled. This is a unique one in the world with no precedent of this type of relocation of resources.

The treaty included financial aspects also by way of Article V. Under that Article India paid 62 million pounds sterling for the construction of water works in Pakistan. These funds were managed by the World Bank. This is a settled position and the lifeline for the economy of Pakistan.

At this stage the relevance of this treaty for Pakistan’s agriculture is not the subject; however, there cannot be any unilateral action of this subject between two nuclear states as clarified by Mr Banga.

The four-day war between India and Pakistan has ended after the intervention of US President Donald Trump. It is a continuation of a misery due to which 1.7 billion people living in this region are facing. This economic issue emanates from the RSS........

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