Pakistani Defense Minister threatens India with war over the Indus Waters Treaty
Pakistani Defense Minister Khawaja Asif issued a warning to India, saying Islamabad may resort to military action if its water security is threatened. His remarks come as Pakistan faces a worsening water crisis, more than a year after New Delhi suspended the long-standing Indus Waters Treaty in the wake of the Pakistan-sponsored Pahalgam terror attack.Speaking in an interview with ARY News, Asif declared, “The moment we feel that our national security, and water is part of our national security, is threatened, we will go to war against India. Absolutely.”He added that war would be considered if physical evidence emerged that India was moving with “alarming speed” toward disrupting water supplies. His comments came on the heels of a clip of Jal Shakti Minister CR Patel claiming that the flow of Indus waters into Pakistan could be completely stopped by June 2028.
Tensions over the Indus Waters Treaty
Tensions escalated between the two nuclear-armed neighbors after a deadly attack in the Pahalgam district of Jammu and Kashmir, killing 26 people. In response, India suspended the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty, a decision that will remain in effect until Pakistan stops financing cross-border terrorism.Under the World Bank-brokered treaty, Pakistan was allocated nearly 80 percent of the Indus River water basin, which supports up to 80 percent of the country’s agricultural land.
Asif accused India of using water as a weapon, manipulating the flows of the Chenab River, and withholding vital hydrological data. He noted that Pakistan has historically monitored Indian projects under the treaty through physical inspections, claiming that Pakistani teams conducted about 115 inspections. However, he admitted that he did not have the latest information about developments over the past year.
Internal water crisis in Pakistan
This warning comes against the backdrop of crippling water shortages affecting nearly a third of Pakistan’s population, especially in Sindh and Balochistan.
Data from the Sindh Irrigation Department indicates that the North-West Canal faces a deficit of 64.1 per cent, while the Rais Canal and Dadu Canal recorded a deficit of 38 per cent and 82 per cent respectively.Officials in Sindh accuse the upstream province of Punjab of illegally withdrawing 53,394 kekes from the water against its permitted allocation of 44,000 kesos, which is more than 21 percent.As downstream flows decline, local leaders warn of impending “economic carnage” as conflicts rage across provincial borders.
