Pakistan Raises Alarm Over Indus Treaty
Pakistan has urged international attention over the Indus Waters Treaty dispute, warning that the credibility of global agreements could be weakened if India’s decision to keep the treaty in abeyance is not addressed.
Indus Waters Treaty Dispute
Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar said the Indus Waters Treaty remains a key instrument for peace and regional stability. Speaking at a conference in Islamabad, he argued that water-sharing arrangements should not be used as a political tool.
India placed the treaty in abeyance after the April 2025 Pahalgam terror attack, in which 26 civilians were killed. New Delhi has maintained that the treaty will remain suspended until Pakistan takes credible and irreversible steps to end support for cross-border terrorism.
Pakistan Warns Over Water Security
Pakistani leaders used the conference to warn against any attempt to reduce, interrupt or divert water allocated to Pakistan under the treaty. PPP chief Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said Pakistan would defend its water rights and called the Indus River a lifeline for the country.
Pakistan’s Climate Change Minister Musadik Malik said the treaty had survived wars between the two countries and claimed that if such an agreement fails, the wider post-war international order could also be weakened.
India Pakistan Treaty Tensions
The Indus Waters Treaty was signed in 1960 with World Bank involvement. It gives India control over the eastern rivers — Ravi, Beas and Sutlej — while Pakistan receives most of the waters of the western rivers — Indus, Jhelum and Chenab.
Relations between India and Pakistan have remained frozen since the Pahalgam attack and Operation Sindoor, with the treaty now at the centre of a wider diplomatic confrontation.
