India has strongly pushed back against Pakistan’s criticism of New Delhi’s decision to place the Indus Water Treaty in abeyance, arguing that Islamabad cannot simultaneously seek the benefits of a decades-old agreement while continuing to support what India describes as cross-border terrorism. The response came after Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif criticised India’s position at an international conference in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, and described the suspension of the treaty as unilateral and unlawful.
India’s response was delivered by Minister of State for External Affairs and Environment Kirti Vardhan Singh during the United Nations International Conference on Glaciers’ Preservation. Singh objected to Pakistan raising the bilateral water dispute at a forum focused on glacier preservation, describing the move as an attempt to introduce issues that were outside the platform’s intended scope. India maintained that Pakistan should not use international forums to shift the discussion away from the circumstances that led New Delhi to suspend the agreement.
The dispute over the Indus Water Treaty intensified after the April 22, 2025, terrorist attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, in which 26 people were killed. Following the attack, India announced a series of measures against Pakistan, including placing the 1960 water-sharing agreement in abeyance until Pakistan credibly and irrevocably ended its support for cross-border terrorism. The decision formed part of a broader diplomatic response announced by the Cabinet Committee on Security.
Singh argued that circumstances surrounding the Indus Water Treaty have changed considerably since it was signed in 1960. Among the factors highlighted by India were climate change, technological developments, demographic changes and the continuing security environment between the two countries. According to the Indian position, these developments warrant a reassessment of how the agreement operates in contemporary conditions.
The Indian government has also linked the functioning of the Indus Water Treaty to the broader relationship between India and Pakistan. Singh stressed that the agreement was originally concluded in a spirit of friendship and goodwill, but argued that persistent cross-border terrorism has undermined the conditions necessary for such cooperation. India has therefore rejected Pakistan’s contention that New Delhi alone is responsible for the breakdown in the treaty’s implementation.
Pakistan, meanwhile, has strongly objected to India’s decision. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif described the move as an attempt to “weaponise” water and warned that millions of people depended on the river system. Islamabad has repeatedly argued that the agreement provides an established framework for managing the waters of the Indus river system and that India’s unilateral action threatens Pakistan’s water security.
The significance of the Indus Water Treaty extends beyond diplomacy because the rivers covered by the agreement are closely connected with agriculture, irrigation and hydropower in both countries. Under the treaty, India received unrestricted use of the eastern rivers—Ravi, Beas and Sutlej—while Pakistan was allocated the principal use of the western rivers—the Indus, Jhelum and Chenab. India was nevertheless permitted specified uses of the western rivers, including domestic consumption, irrigation and hydroelectric generation.
The suspension also has practical implications for Pakistan’s water management. In 2025, Pakistan’s Indus River System Authority reported significant shortages in water availability and declining storage at major reservoirs, while Pakistani officials expressed concern about the impact of reduced Chenab inflows during the kharif agricultural season. Indian officials, however, have maintained that the treaty’s suspension is connected to the larger security dispute rather than being an isolated water policy decision.
For New Delhi, the Indus Water Treaty dispute is therefore part of a much wider deterioration in India-Pakistan relations following the Pahalgam attack. Pakistan continues to challenge India’s decision through diplomatic channels, while India insists that meaningful cooperation cannot be separated from the security environment between the two countries.
The latest exchange at the international conference demonstrates how water, terrorism, climate change and regional diplomacy have become increasingly intertwined in the India-Pakistan relationship. The future of the Indus Water Treaty will depend not only on legal and technical questions surrounding river management, but also on whether the two governments can address the wider political and security disagreements that have brought the agreement to its current impasse.
