UNITED NATIONS: Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar has called on the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to take notice of what Pakistan describes as India’s “brazen violations” of the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT), warning that New Delhi’s actions could jeopardise Pakistan’s water security and undermine regional peace and stability.
Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, delivered Dar’s letter to the president of the UNSC, Ambassador Leonor Zalabata Torres of Colombia, outlining Islamabad’s concerns regarding India’s recent activities linked to the Chenab River system.
In a statement posted on X, Ambassador Ahmad said the letter “draws urgent attention of the UNSC to two illegal Indian infrastructure projects linked to Chenab River system aimed at water diversion, which reveal 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”.
He added that Pakistan had urged the Security Council to take notice of the “fragile and deteriorating situation and hold India accountable for its brazen violations”.
The ambassador also said he briefed the UNSC president on developments in South Asia and India’s continued failure to implement UN Security Council resolutions concerning the Jammu and Kashmir dispute.
This is the second such communication sent by Dar to the Security Council within a year. In April, he wrote to the council highlighting what Pakistan described as the serious humanitarian, security and peace implications of India’s decision to place the treaty in abeyance.
Speaking on Thursday, Dar further warned that at least 17 Indian projects planned on rivers within the Indus basin could provide New Delhi with “tools for hydro-hegemony”.
Growing Tensions Over Water Sharing
The Indus Waters Treaty, brokered by the World Bank in 1960, governs the distribution of the Indus River system between Pakistan and India. Under the agreement, India controls the eastern rivers — Ravi, Beas and Sutlej — while Pakistan receives the bulk of the waters from the western rivers — Indus, Jhelum and Chenab.
For decades, the treaty was regarded as one of the few enduring agreements between the two nuclear-armed neighbours, surviving multiple wars and diplomatic crises. However, relations over water management have deteriorated since India announced in 2025 that it was suspending its treaty obligations.
The move followed the killing of 26 tourists in Pahalgam in occupied Kashmir, an attack India blamed on Pakistan. Islamabad denied any involvement and called for an independent investigation.
In June 2025, the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) ruled in a Supplemental Award of Competence that India could not unilaterally place the treaty in abeyance.
India, however, has maintained that the agreement will remain suspended until Pakistan ends what New Delhi alleges is support for cross-border militancy — a charge Islamabad rejects.
Pakistan has also cited a subsequent PCA award, which it says reinforced limits on India’s ability to control water flows on the western rivers under the treaty framework.
Concerns Over New Indian Water Projects
Pakistan’s objections have intensified following reports that India plans to begin work on the proposed Link-3 Project on August 1. The project would reportedly divert water from the Chenab River to the Beas basin through a tunnel system.
According to Indian media reports, the project is expected to cost approximately 26.2 billion Indian rupees and aims to transfer significant volumes of water annually.
Responding to those reports earlier this month, Foreign Office spokesperson Tahir Andrabi described the proposal as a “grave violation” of the Indus Waters Treaty and international law.
He said India intended to divert 1.9 million acre-feet of water from the Chenab to the Beas system each year, arguing that such an inter-basin transfer would violate both the treaty and broader international legal principles governing shared water resources.
Pakistan has also raised concerns over India’s proposed silt-flushing operations at the Salal Dam in occupied Kashmir’s Reasi district.
According to the Foreign Office, the plan could grant India a degree of water-control capability that is not permitted under either the Indus Waters Treaty or the 1978 Salal Agreement, further escalating tensions over the management of shared river systems.
