Faraz Saeed

DUSHANBE: Pakistan on Tuesday called for a binding international legal framework to protect transboundary water rights, warning that existing global mechanisms had failed lower riparian states after the unilateral suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty.&nbsp;Addressing the plenary session of the 4th High-Level International Conference on Water for Sustainable Development in Dushanbe, Federal Minister for Climate Change and Environmental Coordination Musadik Masood Malik said the current global water governance structure lacked effective enforcement mechanisms against unilateral actions by upper riparian countries.&nbsp;Referring to the Indus Waters Treaty between Pakistan and India, Malik described it as &ldquo;until recently, considered the most successful transboundary water treaty in the world,&rdquo; noting that it had survived wars and decades of tensions between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.&nbsp;&ldquo;Last year, it was unilaterally suspended,&rdquo; Malik told delegates. &ldquo;The treaty did not collapse. It was revealed. It was revealed that a lower riparian country&rsquo;s water rights are only as secure as the goodwill of the upper riparian state.&rdquo;&nbsp;The minister said Pakistan approached the institution that brokered the treaty after its suspension, but found there was no effective mechanism to compel compliance by a sovereign state.&nbsp;The remarks come amid heightened regional tensions following the 2025 Pahalgam incident, after which India announced suspension of cooperation measures related to the Indus Waters Treaty framework.&nbsp;Pakistan has maintained that the treaty is an internationally binding agreement that cannot be unilaterally suspended or held in abeyance.&nbsp;Malik said vulnerabilities faced by lower riparian states extended beyond South Asia and affected river basins worldwide where power asymmetries shaped water-sharing arrangements.&nbsp;Calling for reforms ahead of the 2026 United Nations Water Conference, he urged the international community to establish &ldquo;a binding international covenant on transboundary water rights&rdquo; with compulsory dispute resolution mechanisms and enforceable consequences for violations.&nbsp;&ldquo;We have had enough of committing. It is time to start complying,&rdquo; he said.&nbsp;Highlighting the broader global water crisis, Malik said nearly two billion people still lacked access to safe drinking water, while three billion faced water scarcity for at least one month annually.&nbsp;He said Pakistan remained among the countries most vulnerable to climate change despite contributing less than one percent to global greenhouse gas emissions.&nbsp;Referring to melting glaciers feeding the Indus River system, recurring floods and droughts, groundwater depletion and soil degradation, the minister warned that water insecurity was intensifying across the region.&nbsp;Throughout his address, Malik cited the human impact of water scarcity, including women travelling long distances to fetch water, children dying from waterborne diseases and farmers losing ancestral lands to climate-related disasters.&nbsp;Concluding his remarks, the minister said water must be treated as a fundamental right protected under international law.&nbsp;&ldquo;Water is a right. And rights require protection,&rdquo; Malik said, adding that Pakistan stood ready to support stronger international cooperation on global water governance.

Foreign Affairs

Pakistan on Tuesday called for a binding international legal framework to protect transboundary water rights, warning that existing global mechanisms had failed lower riparian states after the unilateral suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty.

At Dushanbe summit, Pakistan warns India over weaponization of water

Web Desk

ISLAMABAD: India&rsquo;s approval of the 260-megawatt Dulhasti Stage-II hydropower project on the Chenab River in the Kishtwar district of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir marks a shift in South Asia&rsquo;s water politics and underscores growing strain on the Indus Waters Treaty, according to a report published by The National Interest on Friday. The report, titled &ldquo;India&rsquo;s Indus Gamble: How Water Is Becoming a Strategic Weapon in South Asia,&rdquo; authored by Saima Afzal, says the project goes beyond routine infrastructure expansion and reflects &ldquo;a deeper transformation in South Asia&rsquo;s water politics&rdquo; following India&rsquo;s April 2025 decision to place the treaty in abeyance. India&#39;s&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/india-approves-hydropower-project-on-chenab-in-violation-of-indus-waters-treaty" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">Dulhasti Stage-II project</a>, approved at an estimated cost of $395 million, will be developed by Indian public-sector company NHPC Limited and will use existing infrastructure from the 390-megawatt Dulhasti Stage-I plant commissioned in 2007, the report stated.&nbsp; Indian officials have maintained that the project qualifies as a run-of-the-river scheme permissible under the treaty, the journal reported. However, the report argues that treaty compliance &ldquo;cannot be evaluated in isolation from cumulative hydrological impact, strategic intent, or the concurrent erosion of dispute-resolution mechanisms that have governed Indus waters for more than six decades.&rdquo; Signed in 1960 under World Bank mediation, the Indus Waters Treaty allocated control of the Ravi, Beas and Sutlej rivers to India, while granting Pakistan rights over the Indus, Jhelum and Chenab rivers, with limited non-consumptive use allowed to India under strict conditions. The report notes that the treaty contains no provision for unilateral suspension or termination. Despite this, the report says India halted hydrological data sharing after the April 2025 Pahalgam incident, questioned dispute-resolution mechanisms and accelerated several long-contested projects, including Ratle, Pakal Dul, Bursar, Sawalkot, Kiru, Kwar and Kirthai-I and II. &quot;Let flow&quot; In August, the Permanent Court of Arbitration reaffirmed that India is obligated to &ldquo;let flow&rdquo; the waters of the western rivers for Pakistan&rsquo;s unrestricted use, confirming that treaty obligations remain&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/treat-to-remain-fully-enforced-until-modified-terminated-by-both-parties-pakistans-iwt-commissioner" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">legally binding</a>, the report said. The Chenab River is described as &ldquo;a major contributor to Pakistan&rsquo;s agricultural and economic stability,&rdquo; supporting irrigation for wheat, rice and sugarcane. The report notes that more than 80 percent of Pakistan&rsquo;s agriculture depends on the Indus Basin and that even limited disruptions in water timing or volume can have significant economic and humanitarian effects. Altering river morphology&nbsp; According to the report, Dulhasti Stage-II will draw additional water from the Marusudar River through the Pakal Dul project.&nbsp; The report highlights how the &ldquo;Indian environmental clearance documents themselves acknowledge that this reconfiguration will alter river morphology and ecology,&rdquo; affecting a 25-kilometer stretch downstream. &ldquo;Effectively weaponized water&rdquo; Citing a US-based Eurasia Group assessment of global risks for 2026, the report states that India has &ldquo;effectively weaponized water&rdquo; by suspending treaty obligations and withholding hydrological data, warning that such actions threaten agriculture, food security and rural livelihoods in Pakistan. &ldquo;Dulhasti Stage-II is therefore more than a hydropower project,&rdquo; the report said. &ldquo;It is a test case for whether the Indus Waters Treaty remains a living framework or becomes an eroded relic.&rdquo;

File Photo - Indus river from karakouram highway (WikiMedia Commons)

India

India’s Dulhasti Stage-II hydropower project marks a shift in South Asia’s water politics; it underscores the growing strain on the Indus Waters Treaty.

Articles tagged with "indus water treaty"

At Dushanbe summit, Pakistan warns India over weaponization of water

India’s new hydropower project strains Indus Waters Treaty: Report

At Dushanbe summit, Pakistan warns India over weaponization of water