Pakistan warns of “water war” with India if decades-old treaty violated

Pakistan would treat it as "an act of war" if India revoked the Indus Water Treaty regulating river flows between the two nations, Pakistan's top foreign official said on Tuesday.

If India revoked the treaty, Sartaj Aziz, foreign policy adviser to PM Nawaz Sharif said Pakistan would treat that as "an act of war or a hostile act against Pakistan."

Tension has been mounting between the nuclear-armed neighbours since at least 18 Indian soldiers in the disputed Kashmir region were killed this month in an attack that New Delhi blames on Pakistan.

India on Tuesday summoned Pakistan's High Commissioner in New Delhi to inform him about two men from Pakistan now in Indian custody who it alleges helped gunmen cross the disputed Kashmir border before the attack. Pakistan denies involvement in the raid and has urged India to conduct a proper investigation.

One retaliatory move being considered by Prime Minister Narendra Modi is for India to "maximise" the amount of water it uses including by accelerating building of new hydropower plants, along three rivers that flow into Pakistan, a source with knowledge of a meeting attended by Modi on Monday told Reuters.

The source said India does not plan to abrogate the decades-old Indus Water Treaty. But using more of the rivers' water is still likely to hurt Pakistan as the Islamic Republic depends on snow-fed Himalayan rivers for everything from drinking water to agriculture.

Sartaj Aziz, foreign policy adviser to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, said Islamabad would seek arbitration with the Indus Water Commission which monitors the treaty if India increased the use of water from the Chenab, Jhelum and Indus rivers.

However, if India revoked the treaty, Aziz said Pakistan would treat that as "an act of war or a hostile act against Pakistan."

"It's highly irresponsible on part of India to even consider revocation of the Indus Water Treaty," Aziz told the national assembly.

The treaty was signed in 1960 in a bid to resolve disputes, but India's ambitious irrigation plans and construction of thousands of upstream dams has continued to annoy Pakistan. India says its use of upstream water is strictly in line with the agreement.

India currently generates about 3,000 megawatts of energy from hydropower plants along rivers in its portion of Kashmir, but believes the region has the potential to produce 18,000 megawatts and says it can use more water and still remain within the terms of the treaty.

Aziz said India's provocative posturing constitutes a breach of the Indus Water Treaty and "threats of a water war are part of a military, economic and diplomatic campaign to build pressure on Pakistan", and deflect attention from civil unrest by the Muslim population in the Indian-ruled side of Kashmir.

DETAINED BY VILLAGERS

The attack on the Indian brigade headquarters in the Kashmir town of Uri before dawn on Sept. 18 was the deadliest in 14 years in the disputed Himalayan region and has sharply raised tensions between the arch-rivals.

India on Tuesday told Pakistan's High Commissioner that security forces had in their custody two men - a 19-year old and a 20-year old - who helped a group of gunmen cross the de facto border dividing Kashmir before launching the Sept. 18 raid, and that they were from Pakistan-controlled Kashmir.

In a statement, India's foreign ministry said the two men were apprehended by local villagers on Sept. 21, and that one of them had since admitted their role as guides and also identified one of the gunmen as a Pakistani from Muzaffarabad.

Reuters could not independently verify these claims.

A Pakistan foreign ministry spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Reuters

India begins campaign at UN to isolate Pakistan

United Nations: India began a campaign to isolate Pakistan at the United Nations on Monday, telling the 193-member General Assembly it was time to identify nations who nurture, peddle and export terrorism and isolate them if they don't join the global fight.

"My firm advice to Pakistan is: abandon this dream. Let me state unequivocally that Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India and will always remain so," External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said in UN.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said the arrest of Pakistani Bahadur Ali was "living proof of Pakistan's complicity in crossborder terror." India has said Ali confessed that he was trained by the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militant group.

"But when confronted with such evidence, Pakistan remains in denial. It persists in the belief that such attacks will enable it to obtain the territory it covets," she said on the final day of the annual gathering of world leaders at the United Nations.

"My firm advice to Pakistan is: abandon this dream. Let me state unequivocally that Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India and will always remain so," Swaraj said.

India accuses Pakistan of having a role in a September 18 raid on Uri army base in Kashmir, one of the deadliest attacks in the Himalayan region that has been divided since 1947 and lies at the heart of the nuclear-armed neighbors' rivalry. Pakistan denies any role in the attack.

"We need to forget our prejudices and join hands together to script an effective strategy against terror," Swaraj said. "And if any nation refuses to join this global strategy, then we must isolate it."

Prime Minister Narendra Modi vowed on Saturday to mount a global campaign to isolate Pakistan. Last month U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry urged Pakistan to join other nations in fighting terrorism.

India has long accused Pakistan of backing militant groups operating in disputed Kashmir as well as of sending fighters to other parts of the country to carry out acts of violence. Pakistan denies the allegations.

Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif last week told the UN General Assembly India had put unacceptable conditions on dialogue.

"What pre-conditions?" Swaraj said on Monday. "We took the initiative to resolve issues not on the basis of conditions, but on the basis of friendship."

Pakistan's UN Ambassador Maleeha Lodhi dismissed Swaraj's statement on Monday as "a litany of falsehoods and baseless allegations."

"For the Indian Foreign Minister to claim that her country has imposed no preconditions for talks with Pakistan is another flight from reality. India suspended talks more than a year ago, and has refused to resume these despite repeated offers from Pakistan," Lodhi said.

Reuters

Carolina Marin fends off brave PV Sindhu to win gold at Rio Olympics

Rio de Janeiro: Carolina Marin overhauled a brave P V Sindhu in the women's singles final on Friday to win Spain's first badminton title and crush India's hopes of a maiden gold medal at the Rio Olympics.

Carolina Marin and P V Sindhu

The top seed, known as the "Rafa Nadal" of badminton in Spain for her tenacity and fierce left-handed game, closed out a 19-21 21-12 21-15 victory over the 21-year-old Sindhu who was majestic in her Olympic debut.

Letting out a blood-curdling shriek with every winning point, the Spaniard was jeered by spectators at the Riocentro in a nerve-shredding final as she pushed the rules of good sportsmanship with constant stalling tactics.

But the ruthless 23-year-old got the job done, charging away to grab six match points and sealing it on the second with an imperious smash down the line that her opponent did well to get a racquet to.

Flag-waving Spanish fans jumped up and down in the terraces as twice world champion Marin pumped her fists and bellowed in triumph, having survived a huge scare.

Roared to the finish by Indian fans, Sindhu will bow out with huge acclaim, having clinched the country's second and highest medal at these Games, four years after compatriot Saina Nehwal grabbed the nation a bronze in the same event in London.

Japan's Nozomi Okuhara won the bronze in a walkover after her Chinese opponent, the 2012 singles champion Li Xuerui, pulled out of their playoff with a serious knee injury.

Reuters

7th Pay Commission Pay hike needed more money: FM

New Delhi: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley told lawmakers on Friday that he would need more money in the current fiscal year to cover the cost of 7th Pay Commission Pay hike for 10 million central government employees and pensioners.

The government will require "some enhancement" for spending on salaries and pensions in 2016-17 to absorb the off-cycle pay hikes announced in June on the recommendation of the 7th Pay Commission.

The government will require "some enhancement" for spending on salaries and pensions in 2016-17 to absorb the off-cycle pay hikes announced in June on the recommendation of the 7th Pay Commission.

The government faces a challenge to achieve its fiscal deficit target of 3.5 percent of GDP in the current fiscal year, but is "quite optimistic" of fully achieving the target of 3 percent in 2017/18, the finance ministry said in the Medium-Term Expenditure report tabled in parliament's lower house.

Rating agencies such as Moody's have said that the increase in wages would boost consumer demand, leading to inflationary pressures and making it difficult for the next governor of the Reserve Bank of India to achieve its inflation target.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government has just confirmed a central inflation target of 4 percent, plus or minus 2 percentage points, that was agreed with departing governor Raghuram Rajan for the next five years.

Total federal spending on salaries and pensions is estimated to rise about 10 percent in the next fiscal year to 2.58 trillion rupees ($38.6 billion) compared with budget estimates for the current fiscal year.

Reuters

At least 40 feared dead in rains, landslides in Uttarakhand

New Delhi: At least 40 people were feared dead following a downpour that triggered flash floods and landslides in Uttarakhand over the weekend, a state official said.

"There is no need to panic," Uttarakhand's chief minister Harish Rawat told reporters.

Several more people were still missing, a spokesman at the chief minister's office, Om Prakash Sati, said on Sunday, with remote Chamoli and Pithoragarh being the worst affected districts in the state.

The state has so far confirmed 18 deaths, of whom 15 were from Pithoragarh. The official toll was expected to rise.

Thousands were feared stranded as landslides blocked hundreds of roads. The state authorities have asked people in low lying areas to evacuate as a precautionary measure, he said.

Relief operations are under way, but incessant rains have hampered efforts and raised fears of flooding as rivers were close to their danger levels, Sati said.

"There is no need to panic," Uttarakhand's chief minister Harish Rawat told reporters, adding, more teams from the state, central authorities, and other relief forces have all been kept on high alert as a precautionary measure.

Several damaged roads have also been repaired, Rawat said.

 

Reuters

Gunmen attack Air Force base in Pathankot

New Delhi: At least two gunmen and a guard were killed in an attack on an Indian Air Force base on Saturday in Pathankot in Punjab, officials said, in an apparent challenge to attempts to revive a dialogue between the nuclear-armed neighbours.

A policeman stands guard with a gun, following an attack on an Indian Air Force base in Pathankot on Saturday, near the border with Pakistan, in Ludhiana, Punjab, in this still frame taken from video, January 2, 2016.

Defence ministry sources said four gunmen, believed to be from Pakistan, had entered the Pathankot airbase in Punjab overnight. Two were confirmed killed in the ensuing shootout, along with the guard.

The attack came a week after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi made an impromptu visit to Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif, in a bid to revive bilateral talks that had previously been derailed by militant attacks.

"The moment that Modi touched down in Lahore (and probably even before), something like this was doomed to happen," said Michael Kugelman, a South Asia expert at the Wilson Center think tank in Washington.

"At this point, there's sufficient goodwill in India-Pakistan relations to weather this attack. Saboteurs won't win this one," he said.

Border police chief Vijay Singh said the operation to eliminate the gunmen had lasted three hours. The airbase was being combed to determine the fate of the remaining attackers.

According to news reports, the gunmen wore army uniform. One Indian security source blamed the attack on a Pakistan-based militant group, but said it posed no threat to civilians.

The raid resembled an assault last July by gunmen on a police post in Gurdaspur that killed nine people. However, Saturday's pre-dawn attack appeared to have been much more audacious by targeting a large military facility.

One home ministry official said Punjab and Jammu states were on high alert and all defence bases had been sealed.

"Attacking an air base is a serious security threat. The new strategy of the terrorists is to identify defence bases near the border and launch attacks," said the official, who was not authorised to comment on the record.

Reuters

Another militant killed at Pathankot air base on day two of shootout

New Delhi: Security forces killed one more gunman on Sunday at an air base attacked by militants a day earlier, leaving one assailant still suspected at large in the sprawling facility near the border with Pakistan.

An Indian security personnel asks people to move away from the area outside the Indian Air Force (IAF) base at Pathankot in Punjab, January 3, 2016.

Gunfire and blasts were heard as security forces hunted the lone remaining attacker in the Indian Air Force base at Pathankot, a day after the raid in which five attackers and six Indian military personnel have now been killed.

The attack by gunmen disguised as soldiers came a week after Prime Minister Narendra Modi made an unscheduled visit to Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif in an effort to revive talks between the nuclear-armed neighbours.

Officials said the attack bore the hallmarks of previous suspected assaults by Pakistan-based militant groups, underscoring the fragility of recent efforts to revive bilateral talks between the often uneasy neighbours.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

Pakistan has condemned the attack and said it wanted to continue to build on the goodwill created by the impromptu meeting between Modi and Sharif last month.

An army official confirmed the death of the militant as the operation to secure the base - used by MiG-21 fighter jets and attack helicopters - stretched into a second day on Sunday. He did not elaborate.

Indian leaders had already praised the armed forces for their heroism in Saturday's 15-hour shootout, with Modi saying they did not let the "enemies of humanity" who attacked the base succeed.

But that appeared premature on Sunday, as the operation resumed to secure the air base in Punjab that sprawls across an estimated 14 square km and lies just 25 km from the border with historic rival Pakistan.

Outside the base, rumours had circulated all morning that more gunmen were still active after Home Minister Rajnath Singh announced on Saturday that five terrorists had been "neutralised". The official body count was only four at the time.

Military trucks were seen entering and exiting the walled compound, including a demining vehicle. Dozens of security guards continued their vigil, while protesters shouted slogans and burned a Pakistani flag nearby.

One of the Indian security men killed in the attack was Subedar Fateh Singh, who won gold and silver medals in the first Commonwealth Shooting Championships held in 1995, the National Rifle Association of India said.

QUESTIONS OVER BORDER SECURITY

At least two security personnel were wounded in a blast on Sunday, a police official in Pathankot said, as troops scoured the base. One later died, according to reports that could not immediately be confirmed.

The breaching of the base's defences has raised questions about lax security on the international border in Punjab, which is a known route for drug smugglers and is less closely guarded than the disputed frontier running through Kashmir.

Most of the Indian military reported killed had retired from active service and belonged to the Defence Security Corps, a unit that is staffed by veterans no longer in active service.

"The casualties were unacceptably high," said Nitin Gokhale, a defence analyst and journalist who said that intelligence on a possible attack had not been passed on in time to alert sentries at the base.

Police have said the gunmen had earlier hijacked a police officer's car and driven it to the base. It took 12 hours for information on the hijacking to be circulated, according to news reports, allowing the attackers to keep the initiative.

In New Delhi, two trains were delayed early on Sunday amid heightened security concerns after officials received information about a possible bomb threat on a train running between the capital and Lucknow, railways spokesman Neeraj Sharma said.

Trains were deemed safe and were running on schedule by mid-morning, Sharma said.