UNITED NATIONS: Pakistan on Thursday dismissed what it described as India’s attempt to misrepresent the facts surrounding the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) during a United Nations Security Council (UNSC) debate, insisting that New Delhi’s unilateral decision to place the agreement in abeyance was unlawful.
The exchange took place during a UNSC open debate on natural resource governance after Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, criticised India’s move to suspend the treaty, warning that shared water resources should never be used as a tool of coercion.
He argued that “no state should be permitted to abuse shared water resources as an instrument of coercion or political pressure, much less when it breaches solemn treaty obligations.”
Responding during the debate, India’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Harish Parvathaneni, accused Pakistan of “state-sponsored cross-border terrorism”, claiming it had undermined the basis for bilateral cooperation under the treaty. He also reiterated India’s claim over occupied Kashmir.
Rejecting the remarks, Pakistan’s First Secretary at the UN, Ansar Shah, said India’s statement was an attempt to misrepresent the issue.
“The treaty contains no provision whatsoever permitting its so-called abeyance. India’s unilateral action is simply illegal,” he said.
Shah noted that the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) had reaffirmed in its August 2025 award that the treaty “remains valid, binding and fully in force, together with its dispute settlement mechanisms”.
He accused India of using water as a political tool.
“India’s weaponisation of a shared natural resource for political coercion, with the stated aim of starving the population of Pakistan, is a serious breach of legal instruments and international norms,” Shah highlighted, adding the situation poses a “direct threat to regional and international peace and security and is completely germane to today’s debate”.
The Pakistani diplomat also rejected India’s allegations linking Pakistan to terrorism.
“India’s terrorist proxies — the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan, Balochistan Liberation Army and Majeed Brigade — have killed thousands of civilians and law enforcement personnel, including women and children on our soil,” Shah said.
He further alleged that India had been involved in extraterritorial killings.
“India’s involvement in extraterritorial executions including in North America is also well known. India is not a victim of terrorism. It is a sponsor of terrorism,” he said.
Shah also accused India of committing state repression in occupied Kashmir, saying the people of the territory continued to be denied their right to self-determination despite multiple UN Security Council resolutions.
He maintained that India was failing to fulfil its obligations under the UN Charter and asserted that occupied Jammu and Kashmir “never was, nor is, an integral part of India”.
“No unilateral or unlawful measures by the occupying power can alter the historical, legal and disputed character of the occupied territory of Jammu and Kashmir,” he added.
Pakistan urges international law-based resource governance
Addressing the debate, Ambassador Ahmad said natural resources should contribute to sustainable development rather than become sources of conflict or political pressure.
He argued that weak governance, illegal resource extraction, external interference and violations of international law continued to fuel instability and humanitarian crises in many parts of the world.
Referring to Africa, Ahmad said Pakistan had consistently supported African countries in their efforts to exercise sovereign control over their natural resources.
“Sustainable peace cannot be achieved where immense natural wealth coexists with persistent poverty and underdevelopment. It is a recipe for conflict,” he said.
He stressed that governance of natural resources must remain firmly rooted in the UN Charter and international law.
Highlighting India’s suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty, Ahmad said:
“Our eastern neighbour has sought to weaponize water against Pakistan by abusing its status as the upper riparian, unilaterally and illegally placing the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance – a course of action for which neither the Treaty, nor the general principles of international law, provide any basis whatsoever. Pakistan categorically rejects this unlawful action, which directly threatens the livelihoods and well-being of more than 240 million people of Pakistan.”
He reiterated that the treaty remained “valid, binding and fully in force, as reaffirmed by the August 2025 Award of the Court of Arbitration”.
Warning against the use of shared water resources as leverage, Ahmad said:
“No State should be permitted to abuse shared water resources as an instrument of coercion or political pressure, much less when it breaches solemn treaty obligations. That this is happening in the backdrop of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute, a longstanding flash point in South Asia, carries grave risks for international peace and security.”
He also urged the Security Council to remain vigilant where natural resources are exploited or weaponised in ways that threaten international peace and security, calling for greater use of preventive diplomacy, peaceful dispute resolution mechanisms, sanctions regimes and monitoring tools to address such challenges.
