Pakistan on Friday asked the UN Security Council (UNSC) to take notice of India's attempts to alter the flow of rivers governed by the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT). Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar warned in a letter that two Indian infrastructure projects on the Chenab River system are aimed at diverting water and could threaten Pakistan's water, food, and economic security.
Background of the Dispute
In April last year, following a deadly attack on tourists in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), India unilaterally suspended the IWT after accusing Pakistan of backing the attackers — a charge Islamabad categorically denied. The treaty has since remained at the centre of renewed tensions between the two neighbours over the sharing of transboundary water resources.
Pakistan's Diplomatic Move
Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, handed over a letter from Dar to the President of the UN Security Council and Colombia’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Leonor Zalabata Torres. The letter raises concerns over India’s continued violations of the IWT of 1960. According to the envoy, the letter concerns “India’s continued illegal actions and violations of the IWT of 1960” and seeks to draw the Council’s attention to developments related to the Chenab River system.
The letter draws urgent attention to two illegal Indian infrastructure projects linked to the Chenab River system aimed at water diversion. It reveals India’s intention to illegally alter the Treaty-governed flow and use of the Western Rivers, weaponising water with dangerous implications for Pakistan’s water, food, and economic security as well as regional stability and international peace and security.
UNSC Urged to Act
The Pakistani envoy said the UNSC had been urged “to take cognisance of this fragile and deteriorating situation and hold India accountable for its brazen violations.” He also briefed the Security Council president on the overall situation in South Asia and raised concerns over India’s continued non-compliance with its obligations under UN Security Council resolutions on the Jammu and Kashmir dispute.
India's Hydro-Hegemony
A day earlier, Dar addressed the Brussels Conference on Transboundary Water Resources: A Weaponised Global Common, warning that India was pursuing a strategy of “hydro-hegemony” with at least 17 projects, including reservoir and river diversion schemes, designed to alter the Indus river system drastically. “It is a shared resource, a common responsibility, and ultimately a prerequisite for human dignity and sustainable development. The future of transboundary water governance must therefore be anchored in cooperation and respect for international law,” Dar said.
India's Response
Meanwhile, India has launched a concerted campaign to undermine the seminar in Brussels amid growing global scrutiny of New Delhi's unilateral suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT), diplomatic sources said on Thursday. According to diplomatic sources, the Indian side has been unnerved by Pakistan's efforts to internationalise the issue of transboundary water governance and expose the dangers posed by the weaponisation of shared water resources.
The IWT and Why It Matters
The IWT of 1960 stands as one of the most carefully negotiated and legally robust transboundary water agreements in modern international law. Concluded between Pakistan and India with the good offices of the World Bank, the treaty was designed to remove water from the volatility of politics and conflict and to anchor it firmly in law, engineering discipline, and neutral dispute resolution. It is a binding international instrument governed by the foundational principle of pacta sunt servanda — that treaties must be honoured in good faith.
At the heart of the IWT lies a permanent and unqualified allocation of rivers. Article II vests the eastern rivers — Ravi, Beas, and Sutlej — exclusively in India, while Article III accords Pakistan exclusive rights over the western rivers — Indus, Jhelum, and Chenab. This allocation was the treaty’s foundational bargain. India’s access to the western rivers is permitted only within the narrow confines of Article III(2) of the Indus Waters Treaty, read with Annexures D and E, allowing limited, non-consumptive uses such as run-of-the-river hydroelectric projects.
These permissions are subject to strict design and operational constraints, including limits on pondage, prohibition of storage for flow regulation, and a ban on engineering features enabling control over water flows to Pakistan. These safeguards were intended to protect Pakistan as the lower riparian and prevent water from becoming a strategic tool. Pakistan’s objections to projects such as Kishanganga and Ratle stem from concerns over excessive pondage, gated spillways, and drawdown mechanisms, which it says violate treaty provisions and could affect downstream flows, particularly during lean seasons.
Recent Developments
The dispute entered a more troubling phase in April 2025, when, following a terrorist incident in Pahalgam, India announced that it was placing the Indus Waters Treaty “in abeyance.” Earlier this year, India unilaterally approved the Dulhasti Stage-II Hydropower Project on the Chenab River, an action that violates the treaty’s provisions governing the western rivers and infringes upon Pakistan’s legally protected rights under the binding international agreement.
The unilateral suspension and expedited approval of upstream projects, including the withholding of hydrological data, diversion of river flows, and alteration of natural regimes, constitute deliberate water weaponisation, jeopardising Pakistan’s agriculture, food security, hydropower generation, and ecological stability. Under the IWT, customary international law, and Article 51 of the UN Charter, Pakistan has clear legal avenues to respond. International law expressly prohibits the use of water as a weapon against downstream populations, making strict enforcement of the IWT essential not only for bilateral stability but also for the integrity of global water governance norms.
