The story of Pakistan is deeply tied to its rivers, its land, and above all, its people who have withstood every test of time with unmatched resilience. Among the rivers that define our geography and our agriculture, the Sutlej stands as both a symbol of vulnerability and of strength. For much of the year, the Sutlej runs nearly dry within Pakistan’s territory, its waters heavily controlled upstream by India. It is only during the monsoon or flood releases that Pakistan sees it swell, sometimes violently, creating threats to communities along its banks. This erratic flow is not a natural rhythm but a reminder of how politics, treaties, and transboundary water management dictate the fate of millions downstream.

As I argued in my recent article in The Friday Times, climate change has already turned into a weapon in the hands of states, shifting from what we once saw as projections of India’s climate championship to now Modi’s climate terrorism. On this front India’s deliberate manipulation of shared water has too often functioned as climate terrorism in practice. The Sutlej is a living example of this fragility, where even a threat from India’s leadership to stop the waters runs against the very nature of rivers. Water cannot be stopped, it will always find its way. But the fact that such threats were made shows the precariousness of Pakistan’s water security and the courage required of its people to survive under such conditions.

Climate variability intensifies this challenge. La Niña phases typically strengthen monsoon systems over parts of South Asia, compressing intense rainfall into shorter windows. In La Niña years, India’s sudden releases into the Sutlej arrive faster and more forcefully, which means Pakistan’s side of the basin faces a double pressure of climate pulses and upstream operational decisions. For farmers, that translates into narrow decision windows for moving livestock, securing seed and inputs, and protecting standing crops like rice, maize and fodder that suffer from lodging and stem rot when water lingers. In plain terms, families along the river live between........

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