Pakistan urges India to respect Indus Waters Treaty

Islamabad: Pakistan on Tuesday urged India to respect the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT), saying that any attempt to place the treaty in abeyance would set a dangerous precedent for downstream countries.

Addressing a high-level international water conference in Tajikistan's capital Dushanbe, Pakistan's Minister for Climate Change and Environmental Coordination Dr Musadik Malik also accused India of seeking to politicise shared water resources.

He said that unilateral actions affecting transboundary rivers could create serious global challenges related to water security, food production and climate resilience.

The minister urged India to respect the IWT and honour international mediation mechanisms. He said that any attempt to place the treaty in abeyance would set a dangerous precedent for downstream countries around the world.

A day after the Pahalgam terror attack on April 22 last year, India took a series of punitive measures against Pakistan that included putting the Indus Waters Treaty of 1960 in abeyance.

Pakistan rejected India's suspension of the treaty and said any measures to stop the flow of water "belonging to Pakistan" under the pact will be seen as an "act of war".

The Indus Waters Treaty, brokered by the World Bank, has governed the distribution and use of the Indus River and its tributaries between India and Pakistan since 1960.

In his address, Malik also highlighted Pakistan’s growing climate challenges, saying that the country remained among the nations most severely affected by global warming.

Recurrent floods and extreme weather events, he said, have devastated infrastructure, damaged agricultural lands and disrupted livelihoods across Pakistan.

Malik also emphasised the urgent need for regional cooperation on glacial melt and ecosystem preservation. He noted that Pakistan and Tajikistan host nearly 13,000 glaciers each, but have lost approximately 1,000 glaciers because of rising global temperatures.