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22-06-2025
Bureau Report
NEW DELHI: India will never restore the Indus Waters Treaty with Islamabad, and the water flowing to Pakistan will be diverted for internal use, Home Minister Amit Shah said in an interview with Times of India on Saturday.
India put into “abeyance” its participation in the 1960 treaty, which governs the usage of the Indus river system, after 26 civilians in Indian Kashmir were killed in what Delhi described as an act of terror. The treaty had guaranteed water access for 80% of Pakistan’s farms through three rivers originating in India.
Pakistan has denied involvement in the incident but the accord remains dormant despite a ceasefire agreed upon by the two nuclear-armed neighbors last month following their worst fighting in decades.
“No, it will never be restored,” Shah told the daily.
“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 said, referring to the northwestern Indian state.
The latest comments from Shah, the most powerful cabinet minister in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cabinet, have dimmed Islamabad’s hopes for negotiations on the treaty in the near term.
Last month, media reported that India plans to dramatically increase the water it draws from a major river that feeds Pakistani farms downstream, as part of retaliatory action.
Pakistan’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comments but it has said in the past that the treaty has no provision for one side to unilaterally pull back and that any blocking of river water flowing to Pakistan will be considered “an act of war”.
Islamabad is also exploring a legal challenge to India’s decision to hold the treaty in abeyance under international law.
“India’s illegal announcement to hold the treaty in abeyance constitutes a clear violation of international law, the provisions of the treaty itself and the fundamental principles governing inter-state relations,” the FO stated.
“Such conduct sets a reckless and dangerous precedent, one that undermines the credibility of international agreements and raises serious questions about the reliability and trustworthiness of a state that openly refuses to fulfil its legal obligations.”
The FO added that “weaponising water for political ends” is irresponsible and contrary to the behavior of a responsible. It demanded that India immediately restore the full implementation of the IWT.
“For its part, Pakistan remains firmly committed to the treaty and will take all necessary measures to protect its legitimate rights and entitlements under it,” the statement concluded.
Addressing a crowd of supporters on Friday night, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari had said that New Delhi must accept the IWT, warning that if it refused to honour the treaty, “we will fight another war and take all six rivers. We know how to defend our rivers.”
Earlier in the month, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned India’s unilateral suspension of the IWT, describing it as a “blatant violation and act of water aggression” and warned that Pakistan would give a befitting response in line with decisions made at the National Security Committee (NSC) meeting held on April 24.
