‘India could use water as weapon’: Pakistan minister warns amid Indus Water Treaty row

Pakistan's Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal has voiced strong concerns that India might weaponize water resources by manipulating supplies under the Indus Waters Treaty. Iqbal stated that India's decision to unilaterally keep the treaty in abeyance following a terror attack has created a significant new challenge for Pakistan.

"This time around the Indian government has unilaterally held it in abeyance and that sort of creates a new challenge that first time probably water has been weaponized in modern history," Iqbal said at an Asia Society event. He elaborated that Pakistan now faces the threat of India denying water when needed for crops or releasing it when it is not required.

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It's untouchable because it is an international agreement and this time around the Indian government has unilaterally held it in abeyance and that sort of creates a new challenge that first time probably water has been weaponized in modern history and we now face this threat that you know they can use water as a weapon to deny Pakistan water when it needs for its crops and release it when we don't need it.

The remarks come amid heightened tensions between the two nuclear-armed neighbors over the treaty. Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif echoed these concerns, warning India against jeopardizing Pakistan's water supplies. "Every drop of water is our red line," Sharif stated, adding that any threat to Pakistan's sovereignty would elicit a strong response.

India decided to keep the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance after a terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir on April 22, 2025, which killed 26 people. New Delhi maintains that the conditions under which the treaty was negotiated have fundamentally changed and that it cannot function in its current form until Pakistan "credibly and irrevocably" ends its support for cross-border terrorism.

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Every drop of water is our red line.