Pakistan will be starved of water and India will never restore Indus water treaty, says Amit Shah

Union Home Minister Amit Shah has issued a strong warning to Pakistan, declaring that India will never restore the Indus Waters Treaty and asserting that the neighbouring country will be left starving for water.

No, it will never be restored. International treaties can’t be annulled unilaterally but we had the right to put it in abeyance, which we have done. The treaty preamble mentions that it was for peace and progress of the two countries but once that has been violated, there is nothing left to protect," said Amit Shah in an exclusive interview with ToI.

"We will take water that was flowing to Pakistan to Rajasthan by constructing a canal. Pakistan will be starved of water that it has been getting unjustifiably," Shah told ToI.


India put into "abeyance" its participation in the 1960 treaty, which governs the usage of the Indus river system, after 26 civilians in Kashmir's Pahalgam were killed. The treaty had guaranteed water access for 80% of Pakistan's farms through three rivers originating in India.

'Act of war'
Earlier when India announced the suspension of IWT, Pakistan had said that any attempt to stop or divert the flow of water will be considered as an 'Act of War and responded with full force across the complete spectrum of National Power.'

"Any attempt to stop or divert the flow of water belonging to Pakistan as per the Indus Waters Treaty, and the usurpation of the rights of lower riparian will be considered as an Act of War and responded with full force across the complete spectrum of National Power," said the official statement.

Pakistan has remained worried over India's move to suspend the treaty as it is heavily dependent on water from the river system for its hydropower and irrigation needs.

Pakistan is concerned that India's dams will cut flows on the river, which feeds 80% of its irrigated agriculture. It has asked for a neutral expert and then an arbitration court to intervene in two recent hydropower projects.

India starts working on canal
India has started working towards a larger inter-basin water transfer plan to fully utilise its share of Indus river waters. According to a report by The Times of India, a feasibility study is underway for a 113-km canal that would divert surplus flows from Jammu & Kashmir to Punjab, Haryana, and Rajasthan. This canal will link the Chenab with the Ravi-Beas-Sutlej system.

The project aims to optimise India’s share under the Indus Waters Treaty by ensuring better use of both eastern (Ravi, Beas, Sutlej) and western (Indus, Jhelum, Chenab) rivers, curbing excess flows into Pakistan.

Sources told ToI that the proposed canal network will tie into 13 existing canal structures across J&K, Punjab, Haryana, and Rajasthan, eventually feeding into the Indira Gandhi canal system. To facilitate this, the Centre is also considering doubling the length of the Ranbir canal from 60 km to 120 km, and fully utilising the Pratap canal, based on feasibility assessments. The Ujh multipurpose project in Kathua district—pending for years—is also being revived. A second Ravi-Beas link below Ujh, planned earlier to stop excess Ravi water from entering Pakistan, will now be part of the larger canal initiative. It would involve a barrage and tunnel to transfer water to the Beas basin. The Ujh is a tributary of the Ravi. These initiatives add to ongoing short-term measures such as desilting reservoirs at Baglihar and Salal hydro projects on the Chenab.

India is also speeding up work on several hydroelectric plants — Pakal Dul (1,000 MW), Ratle (850 MW), Kiru (624 MW), and Kwar (540 MW) — to better utilise its Indus system share, ToI reported.

Recently, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday reaffirmed Pakistan's willingness to talk with India on all outstanding issues, including Jammu and Kashmir, the Indus Water Treaty, trade and counter-terrorism. However, India has made it clear that it will only have a dialogue with Pakistan on the return of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and the issue of terrorism.