Pakistan has raised serious concerns at the United Nations over India’s unilateral decision to place the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) in abeyance, warning that the move has triggered an unprecedented crisis for Pakistan’s water security and poses broader risks to regional stability.
The issue was highlighted by Ambassador Usman Jadoon, Acting Permanent Representative of Pakistan to the United Nations, during his address at the Global Water Bankruptcy Policy Roundtable, hosted by the Permanent Mission of Canada and the United Nations University (UNU).
Speaking to an international audience of policymakers and experts, Ambassador Jadoon underscored that the Indus Waters Treaty signed in 1960 and brokered by the World Bank remains legally binding and does not permit unilateral suspension or modification by any party.
“Pakistan’s position is unequivocal; the Treaty remains legally intact and permits no unilateral suspension or modification,” Ambassador Jadoon stated. Alleged Treaty Violations and Water Disruptions According to Pakistan, India’s decision, taken in April last year, has been followed by material breaches of the treaty, including unannounced disruptions to downstream water flows and the withholding of critical hydrological data.
Ambassador Jadoon described these actions as a deliberate weaponisation of water, stressing that such measures undermine trust, predictability, and cooperation in transboundary water management.
For more than six decades, the Indus Waters Treaty has served as a time-tested framework for the equitable and predictable management of the Indus River basin, even during periods of political tension between the two countries.
Lifeline for Pakistan’s Economy and People Highlighting the treaty’s significance, Ambassador Jadoon noted that the Indus basin sustains one of the world’s largest contiguous irrigation systems, provides over 80 percent of Pakistan’s agricultural water, and supports the lives and livelihoods of more than 240 million people.
Any disruption to this system, he warned, directly threatens food security, economic stability, and human welfare in Pakistan.
Water Insecurity as a Systemic Global Risk Placing Pakistan’s concerns in a global context, Ambassador Jadoon emphasized that water insecurity has emerged as a systemic risk worldwide, affecting food production, energy systems, public health, livelihoods, and overall human security.
Pakistan, he explained, is a semi-arid, climate-vulnerable, lower-riparian state, facing a convergence of challenges including floods, prolonged droughts, accelerated glacier melt, groundwater depletion, and rapid population growth. These pressures are placing unprecedented strain on already stressed water systems.
National Efforts and the Limits of Unilateral Action The ambassador outlined Pakistan’s efforts to enhance water resilience through integrated water planning, flood protection, irrigation rehabilitation, groundwater recharge, and ecosystem restoration. He referenced flagship initiatives such as Living Indus and Recharge Pakistan, aimed at addressing climate-driven water challenges.
However, he stressed that systemic water risks cannot be managed by any nation alone, particularly in shared river basins. Predictability, transparency, and cooperation in transboundary water governance, he said, are matters of survival for downstream populations.
Call Ahead of UN Water Conference 2026 Looking ahead to the UN Water Conference 2026, Ambassador Jadoon called for water insecurity to be formally recognised as a systemic global risk. He urged the international community to place cooperation and respect for international water law at the center of shared water governance frameworks.
Such an approach, he argued, is essential to ensure the protection of vulnerable downstream communities and to prevent water from becoming a source of conflict rather than cooperation.
