India has strongly pushed back against Pakistan’s accusations of violating the Indus Waters Treaty, asserting that it is cross-border terrorism originating from Pakistani soil that is disrupting the treaty’s implementation. Speaking at the first United Nations International Conference on Glaciers in Dushanbe, Minister of State for Environment Kirti Vardhan Singh said Pakistan was misusing the global platform to raise irrelevant issues.
“We are appalled at the attempt by Pakistan to misuse the forum and to bring in unwarranted references to issues which do not fall within the purview of the forum. We strongly condemn such an attempt,” Singh said during the plenary session on Friday.
India’s response came after Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif criticised India for suspending the Indus Waters Treaty, calling it a “unilateral and illegal decision” that could endanger millions of lives. Sharif’s remarks were reported by Pakistani daily Dawn and came just weeks after India announced the suspension of the treaty following the April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, which claimed 26 lives.
Singh, in his address, said that Pakistan should stop blaming India for breaches of the treaty and instead reflect on its own violations. “Pakistan, which itself is in violation of the treaty, should desist from putting the blame of the breach of the treaty on India,” he stated.
He emphasised that the treaty, signed in 1960 with the World Bank as a guarantor, was built on mutual goodwill and friendship—both of which are undermined by continued acts of terrorism. “The unrelenting cross-border terrorism from Pakistan interferes with an ability to exploit the treaty as per its provisions,” Singh added.
India also called for a reassessment of the treaty in light of changing global realities, including technological advances, climate change, and demographic shifts. Singh pointed out that these new circumstances fundamentally alter the landscape in which the treaty was originally framed.
The three-day UN conference, attended by over 2,500 delegates from 80 UN member states and 70 international organisations, focuses on the preservation of glaciers and their crucial role in global ecological stability and water management. India urged the forum to stay focused on the issue of glacial preservation, rather than being diverted by politically motivated statements.
The Indus Waters Treaty allocates control over the waters of the Indus River and its tributaries between India and Pakistan. India’s recent decision to suspend its implementation was among several punitive measures taken after the latest terror attack, which New Delhi blames on Pakistan-based operatives.