Pakistan will not allow India to weaponise water: Tarar

Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said on Wednesday that Pakistan would not allow India to “weaponise water”, maintaining that the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) could neither be unilaterally altered nor revoked or held in abeyance. Speaking at a seminar at the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad (ISSI), Tarar said the treaty was a legal instrument defining the terms and conditions agreed upon by its signatories and was legally enforceable and binding on both parties. Referring to India’s approach towards the treaty, Tarar said its conditions had deteriorated to the point where “they would be legally ignorant and, if I may, morally bankrupt and devoid of ethics”. “Neither can this treaty be unilaterally altered, rescinded, revoked or held in abeyance for that matter,” he said. Tarar said that even in the event of a dispute, both parties were required to adhere to the terms and conditions of the treaty. He referred to the Court of Arbitration’s decision in August 2025, saying it “upheld Pakistan's stance and gave legitimacy and strength to our argument that there cannot be any unilateral attempts to change the status of this treaty”. The minister said Pakistan had approached the issue diplomatically and engaged the international community to present its legal and diplomatic point of view. “We have engaged the international community and presented our point of view, our legal point of view, our diplomatic point of view and as a nation state which respects the right of others in a manner that has been most effective,” he said. Referring to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s address at the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly, Tarar said the prime minister had stated that the Indus water was “the lifeblood of our people and of our region” and that any attempt to usurp this right would be treated as an act of war. Read: Here's what India's suspension of Indus Waters Treaty means for Pakistan He said Pakistan’s stance on the IWT had been “absolutely clear”, adding that the Foreign Office and the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting had been engaging international organisations as well as countries in the region. “The Indus Water Treaty is an instrument of peace and stability for the region,” Tarar said. The information minister said India used the excuse of alleged cross-border terrorism to defend its illegal actions. He also said that Pakistan had laid down 100,000 lives in the war against terrorism and suffered economic losses of more than $150 billion over the past several decades. “When one Pakistani citizen lays down his or her life in the war against terrorism, yes it's to make Pakistan safer, but it also makes the world a safer place,” he said. “We've been at the forefront of this struggle.” Tarar described attempts to “weaponise water” and create controversy around the IWT as “highly contemptible”, saying they could not be justified at a legal, diplomatic or moral level. He said Pakistan had been supported by a number of countries that had endorsed its position, while international legal forums had also been clear on the treaty’s provisions regarding alteration and revocation. “We are a peaceful nation, we believe in peace, but we will not allow India to weaponise water because that is a fundamental and basic right of the 240 million people of Pakistan,” Tarar said. The minister also called on the international community to recognise the wider precedent involved in the dispute. “If a state can unilaterally place a binding international water treaty in abeyance despite established dispute resolution mechanisms, the implications extend to trans-boundary water governance across the world,” he said. Tarar said such actions could have implications for other countries that had treaties governing the sharing of water. He said research institutions had a responsibility to examine such developments historically, legally and strategically and provide policymakers and the international community with evidence-based analysis. Referring to a special report launched at the seminar, Tarar said it examined the history of the IWT, the legal dimensions of India’s decisions, developments in upstream water infrastructure and the strategic implications for Pakistan and the wider region. “On behalf of the government of Pakistan, I would like to reiterate that we will continue to engage the international community and we will continue to defend Pakistan's vital national interests in accordance with international law,” he said. Tarar thanked the Institute of Strategic Studies for releasing the report and said the government looked forward to continuing to work with the institute. The Indus Waters Treaty After years of negotiations, facilitated by the World Bank, the IWT was signed in September 1960 by then-Indian PM Jawaharlal Nehru and former Pakistani President Ayub Khan. India was given control over the three eastern rivers—Ravi, Sutlej, and Beas—while Pakistan was assigned control over the three western rivers—Indus, Jhelum, and Chenab. According to the treaty, India is legally bound to allow the waters of the western rivers to flow into Pakistan, with only a few exceptions. According to the treaty, Pakistan has unrestricted use of these rivers, while India is permitted to construct hydroelectric facilities on them under specific conditions. These projects must conform to design constraints outlined in the treaty’s annexures, ensuring that they are "run-of-the-river" and do not significantly alter water flow or storage to Pakistan’s detriment. Pakistan, which receives roughly 80 per cent of the water in the Indus river system, relies heavily on these rivers. Of the 16.8 crore acre-feet of water in the system, India is allocated around 3.3 crore acre-feet. At present, India uses slightly more than 90 per cent of its permitted share, leaving Pakistan deeply dependent on the remainder. This dependence is profound. The Indus river network—comprising the Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas, and Sutlej—forms the backbone of Pakistan’s agricultural sector. It sustains a population of tens of millions, fulfilling 23 per cent of the country's agricultural water needs and directly supporting nearly 68 per cent of rural livelihoods. Any disruption to this supply could trigger widespread consequences: reduced crop yields, food insecurity, and further economic instability, particularly in regions already burdened by poverty and an ongoing financial crisis. Read more: 'Not a single drop of water will flow to Pakistan': Indian minister threatens to block water supply Compounding the issue is Pakistan's limited water storage capacity. Major dams such as Mangla and Tarbela have a combined live storage of just 14.4 million acre-feet (MAF)—a mere 10 per cent of the country’s annual entitlement under the treaty. In times of reduced water flow or seasonal variability, this shortfall in storage leaves Pakistan acutely vulnerable. Despite Pakistan’s heavy reliance on the Indus waters, the treaty does afford India certain rights. It allows the development of 13.4 lakh acres of irrigation in Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. However, as of now, only 6.42 lakh acres are being irrigated in these Union Territories. Furthermore, the treaty permits India to store up to 3.60 million acre-feet of water from the western rivers—although little to no such storage infrastructure currently exists in Jammu and Kashmir. Relations between the two nations took a marked downturn after India revoked Jammu and Kashmir’s special autonomy in 2019, followed by the Pahalgam attack in 2025. Since then, trust between New Delhi and Islamabad has eroded further. Early June this year, Indian Minister of Water Chandrakant Raghunath Patil told the media that India was strategising the disruption of Indus River flow into Pakistan - an action backed by PM Narendra Modi. "It is certain, not a single drop of water will go (to Pakistan) in the coming years," the Indian minister had told ANI news agency. Meanwhile, Pakistan had warned the Modi-led government against any such measures.