Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar on Tuesday warned that attempts to deprive Pakistan of its rightful share of water would have serious implications for regional peace and security, as tensions over the Indus Waters Treaty remain unresolved. Dar made the remarks while addressing the International Water Symposium convened by the Embassy of Pakistan in Austria in collaboration with the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna, according to the Foreign Office.
The treaty has remained a contentious issue between Pakistan and India since New Delhi unilaterally placed the accord in abeyance in April last year. The move came after an attack on tourists in India-occupied Kashmir and was followed by a brief military conflict between the two countries in May 2025.
In a keynote video message at the symposium, Dar emphasised that there should be no misunderstanding about Pakistan's determination to protect its rights and interests under the treaty and international law. "Any attempt to deprive Pakistan of the waters rightfully allocated to it would have serious implications for regional peace and security," he said.
Emphasising that water was essential to human survival, prosperity, and environmental sustainability, Dar said its availability was increasingly shaping the stability of relations between states. He added that for countries sharing transboundary river systems, a permanent interdependence was created by their geography.
"The fundamental question, therefore, is whether shared waters will be governed through cooperation and agreed legal frameworks, or become instruments of political pressure and confrontation," he said. For Pakistan in particular, the deputy premier added, water security was inseparable from food security, as the waters of the Indus River System sustained the lives and livelihoods of over 250 million people in the country.
He highlighted that this water sustained agriculture, food security, energy production, economic development, and life-supporting ecological systems. "Any attempt to undermine Pakistan's rights over these waters carries consequences that extend far beyond a bilateral disagreement," Dar stressed.
Signed by Pakistan in 1960 following a decade of negotiations, the treaty, Dar said, replaced upstream discretion with binding legal obligations and provided both countries with a framework of certainty and predictability. He said this was based on the fundamental recognition that waters upon which millions depend must remain insulated from the fluctuations in political relations.
The deputy prime minister, however, said this principle was now being challenged as India had unilaterally placed the treaty in abeyance in April 2025, although it contained no provision permitting either party to do so. Dar also pointed to the unanimous award issued by the Permanent Court of Arbitration on August 31 concerning the status of the treaty, saying it required India to comply with the treaty and placed restrictions on its work on a hydropower project.
The court had made clear that the treaty remains fully in force and that India continued to be bound by its obligations under the agreement, finding no grounds to justify its suspension or termination. "This is an important reaffirmation of Pakistan's position, as well as a fundamental principle of international law," Dar stated.
"Pacta sunt servanda: agreements must be kept." He said the court's ruling reaffirmed that the rights and obligations established under the treaty could not be altered through unilateral action. He said India continued to display intransigent behaviour and illegal actions.
"Pakistan has consistently sought to address its differences with India through dialogue, diplomacy and the dispute resolution mechanisms provided under the treaty," he said, adding that the country was also participating in the Neutral Expert proceedings under the treaty administered by the court's Vienna office.
Dar said Pakistan's constructive participation in the Neutral Expert proceedings and the court's award processes reflected its confidence in the institutional mechanisms established under the treaty. He said the credibility of international law rested not only on the conclusion of treaties, but also upon their faithful implementation and respect for decisions rendered under their agreed procedures, a principle Pakistan had consistently upheld.
He also underscored the profound humanitarian, economic and security consequences of using water as an instrument of pressure. According to Dar, India's illegal actions carried implications beyond the region, as they could set a dangerous precedent for other transboundary river basins governed by international agreements.
"Amidst challenges to the international law-based world order, the international community should be strengthening treaty-based cooperation, not permitting its erosion," he said. "The principles of equitable and reasonable utilisation, the prevention of significant transboundary harm, and cooperation remain essential to international water governance."
He said their application must, however, respect the specific rights and obligations established under the treaties governing individual river systems. Dar reaffirmed Pakistan's commitment to dialogue, diplomacy and the peaceful resolution of disputes, describing cooperation over shared water resources as indispensable to regional peace, development and sustainability.
Dar outlined three principles for moving forward: implementing the treaty in letter and spirit; resolving all differences and disputes through the treaty's established mechanisms and respecting the decisions reached through them; and enhancing technical engagement, transparency and data-sharing between the two countries in line with the treaty.
"Our preference remains clear: cooperation over coercion, dialogue over confrontation, and the rule of law over unilateralism," Dar said.