‘We’re just a facilitator’: World Bank chief Ajay Banga on Indus Water Treaty

The World Bank on Friday (May 9) clarified that it has no role to play in the Indus Water Treaty dispute between India and Pakistan, and that it is merely a “facilitator”.

The World Bank president Ajay Banga said there was a lot of speculation in the media about how the bank would find a solution to the problem, but he said “it’s all bunk”.

Also Read: Scrapping Indus Water Treaty: A tactical move with advantages, and risks

“We have no role to play beyond a facilitator. There’s a lot of speculation in the media about how the World Bank will step in and fix the problem, but it’s all bunk. The World Bank’s role is merely as a facilitator,” said Ajay Banga on Friday.

Banga met PM Modi

Banga is presently in India, and met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday (May 8) in New Delhi.

The timing of the meeting seemed to raise some questions, as it was just a day after India’s Operation Sindoor. But the government issued a statement clarifying that the World Bank president was in the country to explore investment opportunities in Uttar Pradesh, and that he has a meeting scheduled with the UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath.

Also Read: Reservoir flushing, new hydro projects: India intensifies efforts to stop water flow to Pak

Indus Water Treaty

In 1960, the World Bank had acted as a facilitator to find a solution to the dispute between India and Pakistan over the sharing of water from the Indus River system.

After nine years of lengthy consultations between engineers of both countries and the World Bank, the two neighbouring nations signed a treaty on the sharing of waters. This treaty has stood the test of time for the past 65 years, even after three India-Pakistan wars and several conflicts.

However, after the horrific terror attack in Pahalgam on April 22, India has suspended the treaty. This has been called an “act of war” by Pakistan.

Also Read: India cuts flow through Jammu dam after suspending Indus treaty: Report

The Indus Water Treaty is crucial for Pakistan as the water from the “western” rivers allotted to it – the Indus, Ravi, and Jhelum – caters to the needs of almost 80 per cent of its farms.

On Thursday (May 8), India’s Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri asserted India’s right to put the treaty on hold, saying that it had been signed decades ago “in a spirit of goodwill and friendship” that was absent today.

Misri said there have been fundamental changes to the circumstances in which the treaty was signed, and that there is now a need to “reassess the obligations under the treaty”.