India cutting Pakistan's water would be 'act of war', Islamabad's UN envoy warns

Pakistan's water comes mainly from rivers originating in the Himalayas

Permanent Representative of Pakistan to the United Nations Asim Iftikhar Ahmad. Photo: Pakistan mission to the UN

Pakistan’s envoy to the UN has accused India of using water supplies as a weapon, warning that any move to cut off vital river flows would amount to “an act of war.”

The remarks follow India’s suspension of the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty, a landmark agreement that has governed sharing water between the two nuclear-armed neighbours for 65 years. Most of Pakistan's water comes from rivers originating in the Himalayan mountains of Tibet and India.

"If India tries to stop or divert the waters which are due [to be] shared [with] Pakistan under this treaty, it will be considered as an act of war," ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad said in an exclusive interview with The National. "This is something which is very serious."

India's threat to cut water supplies to its downstream neighbour is unprecedented, with the treaty having survived two wars between the rivals. The move comes after the April 22 militant attack at the tourist site of Pahalgam in Indian-administered Kashmir, leading to diplomatic and military retaliations that have raised the spectre of all-out war.

New Delhi on Wednesday conducted air strikes against "terrorist infrastructure" in Pakistan. Islamabad said at least 26 civilians were killed.

Pakistan has denied any role in the massacre of 26 tourists, all but one of them Indian, and has offered to co-operate with an international investigation. India has not accepted the offer and several world leaders have urged both sides to exercise restraint and avoid further escalation.

Islamabad has repeatedly rejected accusations that it supports cross-border militant groups.

Mr Ahmad accused India of exploiting the violence to further its strategic aims.

“India has always used such incidents to advance its objectives,” he said, claiming that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government is using anti-Pakistan sentiment to gather political support.

 “You cannot suspend a bilateral treaty in this way under international law, and the treaty itself does not allow for suspension or abeyance."

Baglihar Dam on the Chenab river, which flows from Indian Kashmir into Pakistan. Reuters

Disputes have flared in the past, particularly over Indian hydropower projects that Islamabad says threaten downstream water flows in breach of the treaty.

Several of the rivers and tributaries under the treaty originate in India and supply about 80 per cent of the water used in Pakistan's agriculture.

“This is going to have a long-term impact on Pakistan – on our economy, on our society, on our people,” Mr Ahmad warned.

Brokered by the World Bank, the Indus Waters Treaty allocates control of six rivers between India and Pakistan. The flow of the vast river system is to an extent controlled by Indian dams, but it is unlikely India would be able divert tens of billions of cubic metres of water for long.

India has not provided a detailed legal justification for its decision but has long accused Pakistan of failing to curb militant groups operating from its soil.

India is holding the Indus Water Treaty in abeyance until Pakistan ceases its support for terrorism against India, the Indian embassy in Washington told The National.

“While India abided by the treaty for 65 years, Pakistan, with its record of over three decades of harbouring, supporting, and fuelling terrorism against India, has killed this spirit,” an embassy spokesperson said.

"It also did not heed any of India’s repeated calls to modify the treaty in accordance with changing technology, water flows and demographic changes."

In a call with Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio urged Pakistan to “take steps to end support for terrorist groups”.

Mr Ahmed strenuously denied Islamabad supports such groups.

“There is no safe haven in Pakistan and some of these groups are proscribed globally under the UN sanctions,” he said. “They are proscribed under Pakistan's own anti-terrorism laws. We have taken credible action against these groups, and they are defunct groups which are no more operational.”

In his call to Mr Sharif, Mr Rubio also expressed sorrow for the "reported loss of civilian lives", a sign that Washington does not fully believe New Delhi's claims that it struck terrorist infrastructure on Wednesday.

When asked about direct contact between New Delhi and Islamabad, Mr Ahmad said a channel had been established between the national security advisers of both countries on Wednesday.

“I don’t want to prejudge, but their [India’s] intentions are not sincere,” he said.

India and Pakistan reported fresh exchanges of fire across their border on Thursday, with claims of dozens more deaths as tension showed no signs of easing.

On Wednesday, India launched missile strikes it said were aimed at “terrorist camps", prompting a response from Pakistan involving fighter jets and artillery fire. The next day, both countries accused each other of carrying out drone attacks.

At least 48 people have been reported killed since the escalation, including 32 in Pakistan, among them children.

Timeline of India-Pakistan conflict in Kashmir - in pictures

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  Indian troops in the Kashmir region, during the war with Pakistan in 1965. All photos: AP

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  Pakistani soldiers take cover during shelling from Indian forces, in the Jessore area of East Pakistan in 1971.

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  Indian artillery guns are engulfed in smoke in Dras, 155km north of Srinagar in Indian-administered Kashmir, amid fighting in 1999.

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  A village in Pakistan-administered Kashmir near the Line of Control, which divides India and Pakistan.

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  An Indian soldier takes cover near the Taj Mahal hotel in Mumbai, during a gun battle with militants in 2008.

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  Indian soldiers conduct a search operation outside the Pathankot airbase, after an attack by extremists in 2016.

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  A fire burns at a residential building where militants are thought to have taken refuge during a deadly attack in Pulwama, Indian-administered Kashmir, in 2019.

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  Security officers at the site of a deadly attack on tourists in Pahalgam, Indian-administered Kashmir, in April 2025.