“On June 10, 2026, C.R. Patil, the Indian Water Minister, was quoted as saying in an interview with the Indian news agency ANI: ‘It is sure, there won’t be a single drop of water flowing to Pakistan in the coming years.’ He went on further to say, ‘India is working actively towards that, as per directives given by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.’ The words did not stem from any frustrated politician’s mouth, but was rather a statement of policy, which should have the whole world worried.’

What Patil described is not simply a bilateral dispute between two feuding neighbours. It is the deliberate weaponisation of water against a nation of 240 million people, in violation of international law and a treaty that survived three wars.

A Treaty Built to Last 

Indus Waters Treaty (IWT), dated September 19, 1960, was signed in Karachi. This treaty, which had been drawn out for a period of nine years and facilitated by the World Bank, gave both countries control over the six rivers of the Indus Basin. India got the eastern three rivers – namely Ravi, Beas, and Sutlej, whereas Pakistan got hold of the western three rivers – namely Indus, Jhelum, and Chenab. This treaty proved to be everlasting in nature and remained in place for more than six decades. It survived the wars of 1965 and 1971, the Kargil war of 1999, and even the fall-out of the 2008 Mumbai blasts.

Such endurance was intentional. The treaty had been drafted with the understanding that water could never be manipulated politically. Article XII explicitly states the treaty “shall remain in force until terminated by a duly ratified treaty concluded for that purpose.” There is no mechanism for unilateral suspension. None.

Yet in April 2025, following a deadly militant attack on tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir, India announced it was placing the IWT “in abeyance.” An international Court of Arbitration responded clearly in June 2025, stating that the treaty did not provide for unilateral suspension and that it remained fully in force. India dismissed the........

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