Pakistan has warned the United Nations that India’s unilateral decision to hold the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) in abeyance poses a grave threat to Pakistan’s water security and regional stability, calling the move a deliberate “weaponisation of water.”
Addressing the Global Water Bankruptcy Policy Roundtable hosted by Canada and the United Nations University, Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Usman Jadoon, said India’s actions constituted material breaches of the 1960 treaty. He cited unannounced disruptions in downstream water flows and the withholding of vital hydrological data since April last year.
Ambassador Jadoon stressed that the treaty remains legally intact and does not allow unilateral suspension. He noted that the Indus Basin supplies over 80 percent of Pakistan’s agricultural water and sustains more than 240 million people.
Highlighting Pakistan’s climate vulnerability as a lower-riparian, semi-arid country, he warned that water insecurity threatens food, energy, and human security. While pointing to national initiatives such as Living Indus and Recharge Pakistan, he emphasized that transboundary water risks require cooperation, transparency, and respect for international water law, urging global recognition of water insecurity as a systemic risk ahead of the 2026 UN Water Conference.
Story by Anwar Iqbal
