As part of retaliation for a deadly attack on tourists in April that New Delhi blames on Islamabad, India is mulling measures to drastically boost the amount of water it draws from a major river that supplies Pakistani farmers downstream, four people familiar with the situation said.
The Indus Waters Treaty of 1960, which regulates the use of the Indus river system, was suspended by Delhi soon after the deaths of 26 people in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK).
The two nuclear-armed neighbors agreed on a truce last week after the heaviest fighting between them in decades, but the agreement has not been resurrected despite Pakistan’s denial of involvement in the incident.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi issued an order following the attack on April 22.
