Attempt to deprive Pak of its share of Indus water will have 'profound consequences': Dy PM Dar

Islamabad, Pakistan has said that any attempt to deprive it of waters allocated under the Indus Waters Treaty will have "profound consequences" for regional security, according to a media report.

Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar, while virtually addressing a seminar on 'The Indus Waters Treaty: South Asian Security at the Crossroads,' also said that the issue was beyond bilateral relations and concerned "the sanctity of treaties."

The 1960 vintage Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) is a World Bank-brokered agreement between India and Pakistan governing the sharing of waters of the six rivers of the Indus basin, allocating the three eastern rivers to India and the three western to Pakistan. India has put it in "abeyance" since April 2025 in response to the Pahalgam terror attack.


"The treaty contains no provision permitting either party to unilaterally suspend or place it in abeyance," Dar said, adding that neither country could "through a unilateral political declaration, extinguish obligations solemnly undertaken under international law."

According to a report in the Dawn newspaper on Friday, Dar, who is also the Foreign Minister, said the issue went beyond bilateral relations and concerned "the sanctity of treaties" and "confidence in international law."

"Pakistan has consistently sought to resolve differences through dialogue, diplomacy and the mechanisms provided under the Treaty," he was quoted as saying by the daily.

Dar said the issue was particularly important for Pakistan as its agriculture, food security, energy production, livelihoods and economic development depended heavily on the Indus river system.

"The Indus Basin is the lifeline of more than 250 million Pakistanis," he told the seminar organised by the Embassy of Pakistan in Washington.

Dar also linked the issue with climate change, saying Pakistan was already among the world's most water-stressed countries and faced changing precipitation patterns, glacial retreat, floods, droughts and increasing hydrological variability.

"Any attempt to deprive Pakistan of the waters rightfully allocated to it under the Indus Waters Treaty would have profound consequences for regional peace and security," he said.

A day after the Pahalgam terror attack on April 22, 2025, India took a series of punitive measures against Pakistan, including putting the IWT in "abeyance."

India has maintained that the Indus Waters Treaty is in abeyance in response to Pakistan's continued support for cross-border terrorism.