Indus Waters Treaty Remains 'Valid, Binding and Operative':

 Pakistan Deputy PM

Report By Y-Trendz

Islamabad — June 30, 2026

Pakistan's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar declared on Tuesday that the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) remains fully in force despite India's suspension of the agreement, warning that

any attempt to divert, block, or reduce Pakistan's share of water would be treated as an act of war. Dar made the remarks while addressing an international seminar on the treaty in Islamabad, attended by federal ministers, legal experts, water specialists, diplomats, and international scholars.

Rejecting India's Suspension

Dar stated that Pakistan rejects India's decision to hold the treaty in abeyance as unilateral and illegal, insisting that no party can suspend or terminate its obligations under an agreement that contains no provision allowing such action. He described the IWT as more than a water-sharing arrangement, calling it a vital instrument of regional peace, stability, and cooperation. He said the position was not merely Pakistan's own interpretation but reflected a basic principle of international law.

India announced it was suspending the treaty in April 2025 following a terror attack on civilians in the Pahalgam area of Kashmir, which New Delhi has linked to Pakistan-backed militant groups — an accusation Islamabad denies. The suspension marked the first time in the treaty's history that bilateral tensions had disrupted its implementation since it was signed in 1960.

Court of Arbitration Ruling

Dar and other Pakistani officials have repeatedly pointed to a ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration, an international dispute-resolution body, which issued a supplemental award in June 2025 finding that the treaty does not permit unilateral abeyance and reaffirming its own jurisdiction over the matter. India has rejected that ruling, calling the arbitration court illegal and maintaining that it will keep the treaty in abeyance until Pakistan addresses what New Delhi describes as continued support for cross-border terrorism. India has also argued that changing circumstances, including climate change, technological developments, and demographic pressures, justify revisiting the treaty's terms.

Warnings on Water Infrastructure

During the Islamabad seminar, Pakistan's Indus Waters Commissioner, Syed Mehr Ali Shah, raised concerns about fluctuations in flows along the Chenab River, describing them as a strategic hazard rather than a routine technical issue. He said Pakistan had written to its Indian counterpart on the matter multiple times without receiving a response, and stressed that data-sharing under the treaty's cooperative framework was essential to distinguishing natural variation from deliberately caused vulnerability.

Dar separately criticized a series of Indian hydropower and infrastructure projects on the Indus river system, arguing that expanded upstream control without adherence to treaty discipline amounted to what he termed "hydro-hegemony." Officials said Pakistan does not object to lawful hydropower development but views unchecked discretion over water flows as a violation of the treaty's core bargain, under which the western rivers — the Indus, Jhelum, and Chenab — were allocated to Pakistan while India retained the eastern rivers: the Ravi, Beas, and Sutlej.

International Appeals

Pakistan has also taken its case to the United Nations. Dar sent a letter to the president of the UN Security Council warning of grave peace, security, and humanitarian consequences stemming from India's continued suspension of the treaty, and urged the council to call on India to restore full implementation and resume treaty-mandated cooperation. Pakistani officials argue that roughly a quarter to a third of the country's GDP and nearly half its workforce depend on agriculture tied to the Indus basin, making water security a humanitarian as well as legal issue.

Broader Political Reaction

Pakistani political figures have echoed Dar's position. Information Minister Attaullah Tarar described India's move as a violation of international law, while Pakistan Peoples Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said durable peace between the two countries would remain difficult to achieve without restoration of the treaty. Legal experts speaking at the seminar, including international law specialist Ahmer Bilal Soofi, argued that India's continued suspension contravenes both international law and the UN Charter, framing access to water as a fundamental human necessity.

What Comes Next

With India showing no sign of reversing its position and Pakistan continuing to press its case through arbitration, the UN, and public diplomacy, the dispute over the six-decade-old treaty remains one of the most significant unresolved flashpoints between the two nuclear-armed neighbors. Dar's warning that interference with Pakistan's water share could be treated as an act of war underscores how a technical water-sharing arrangement has become entangled with broader questions of regional security following the Pahalgam attack and its aftermath.