Pakistan’s Foreign Office has categorically rejected the unparliamentary and provocative statement of Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar regarding the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT), particularly India’s claim of having “held the treaty in abeyance” in April 2025. Pakistan has reiterated that India has neither the legal authority nor the moral justification to unilaterally suspend or abrogate the Indus Waters Treaty of 1960. The treaty, brokered by the World Bank, is a binding international agreement and cannot be altered outside its agreed framework.Responding to Indian assertions, the Foreign Office spokesperson stated that New Delhi was attempting to deflect attention from its own destabilizing role in the region and its troubling record as a neighbour that promotes coercive policies and regional instability. The Pahalgam incident of April 22, 2025, therefore, must not be viewed merely as an isolated security event. Rather, it reflects a deeper and more calculated strategy, aimed at pressuring Pakistan on multiple fronts, particularly targeting one of its most critical national interests: the water security.

Until April 22, 2025, few could imagine that India would exploit the killing of its own citizens to advance an ill-conceived strategic agenda. The Pahalgam episode appears to have been meticulously planned and politically........

© Pakistan Observer