Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Tuesday warned of “profound consequences” for regional peace and security if the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) remains in abeyance. Pakistan has stepped up its diplomatic campaign against India’s decision to suspend the 1960 water-sharing agreement.
While addressing an international seminar in Islamabad, Bilawal stated that Pakistan wanted peace but would not compromise on what it termed its water rights under the treaty. His remarks come months after India put the treaty in abeyance following the Pahalgam terror attack, as reported by ANI.
‘The Indus is lifeline of Pakistan’
During the seminar, Bilawal defended Pakistan’s stance on the treaty and said, “We want peace, but peace with dignity. We want dialogue under law. We want co-existence, but not submission,” Bilawal mentioned, as quoted by ANI.
He further added, “Pakistan will defend its water, its people, its treaty, its sovereignty and its future,” as reported by ANI.
Bilawal also described the Indus river system as central to Pakistan’s future. “The Indus is not a pressure point. The Indus is not a bargaining chip. The Indus is not a weapon to be placed in India’s hands. The Indus is a lifeline of Pakistan.
Bilawal also mentioned that Pakistan considers the issue a “matter of national security” and maintained that lasting peace could not be achieved without restoring the Indus Waters Treaty.
Pakistan raises diplomatic objections
Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar described the treaty as “a vital instrument of regional peace, stability, and cooperation.” Dar mentioned on X that “shared waters must never be weaponised and cautioned that any attempt to alter existing water-sharing arrangements would have “profound consequences” for regional peace and security.
Former foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar also stated that the treaty could not be modified or terminated through unilateral political decisions and said any such change would require the approval of both governments.
India says treaty no longer fits present-day realities
India has maintained that the treaty cannot be viewed separately from the issue of cross-border terrorism.
According to a report by The Indian Express, India’s first Secretary at the Permanent Mission to UN, Anupam Singh, recently stated that the 66-year-old Indus Waters Treaty is “outdated.” She stated, “Our position on Indus Water Treaty is well known. It defies logic that a state that exports terror as an instrument of policy continues to demand the privileges of cooperation predicated on goodwill and friendship.”
Singh also further added that “the treaty is now outdated” and that an agreement negotiated in 1960 “cannot be considered as a perpetual entitlement” despite the changes witnessed over the past six decades, according to The Indian Express.
Treaty in abeyance after Pahalgam Attack
India placed the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance after the Pahalgam terror attack, in which 26 civilians lost their lives. India has since suspended the sharing of hydrological data with Pakistan. It has also speed up work on hydropower and water infrastructure projects on the western rivers. New Delhi maintained that the treaty will remain in abeyance until Pakistan takes visible action against cross-border terrorism.