Former Union Minister MJ Akbar on Friday hit back at Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's remarks on the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT), saying Islamabad must first answer for every drop of Indian blood lost in terror attacks before raising concerns over water.
Akbar's remarks came after Sharif, speaking on the eve of Pakistan's Independence Day, indulged in hollow and empty rhetoric against Indian stating that every drop of Pakistan's water is a "red line" and calling for a "direct response" if New Delhi did not "come to the right path" over the IWT.
"Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is worried about every single drop of water on the Indus, saying it is a red line. The message from India is different. Every single drop of Indian blood lost to terrorists, lost to terrorism sponsored by Pakistan, needs accountability. Pakistan has to give an answer. That is the answer that India is searching for. Blood and water will not flow together," Akbar said.
Sharif had accused India of being an "enemy of peace" over New Delhi's decision to keep the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance.Following the April 22, 2025 terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam, India kept the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance after a Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) meeting on April 23, 2025 and asserted that the conditions under which the treaty was negotiated have fundamentally changed.
India has stated that the treaty can no longer function in its present form and will remain in abeyance until Pakistan "credibly and irrevocably" ends its support for cross-border terrorism.Akbar also invoked remarks by Pakistani political leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman while questioning Islamabad's ability to exercise control over parts of its own territory.
"The full truth about Pakistan has been exposed by a very major Pakistani leader, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, head of their Jamiat. He has told the Pakistani government, the Prime Minister as well as the real chief of Pakistan, their Field Marshal Asim Munir, who is the head of their armed forces. He has told them to first gargle before they say anything, because he hints that their voices have become unclean with the untruth," he said.
Akbar went on to slam the security situation in Balochistan. It is certainly outside the control. Pakistan is the only government which bombs its own country. In the last 24 hours, Pakistan has bombed Pakistan in Balochistan," he said.
He described Pakistan as being in a state of deepening instability, arguing that the country's internal challenges have increasingly overshadowed its rhetoric against India.The fact of the matter is that Pakistan on its Independence Day is crumbling, he said .Against this backdrop, Sharif's decision to make India's water policy a central focus of his Independence Day remarks has drawn criticism from Akbar, who argued that Islamabad should first address the consequences of terrorism and instability within Pakistan.
Follow us
