India Holds Firm As Pak Urgently Appeals To Stave Off Escalating Water Crisis

Photo: ANI

India-West News Desk

NEW DELHI – Amid mounting domestic pressure and a worsening water crisis, Pakistan has issued a series of urgent appeals to India, seeking the restoration of the Indus Waters Treaty which New Delhi suspended following a deadly terror attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, that left 26 tourists dead.

Over the past month, Pakistan’s Water Resources Secretary Syed Ali Murtaza has sent four formal letters to India’s Jal Shakti Ministry, which have since been forwarded to the Ministry of External Affairs, NDTV reported. The communications urge the reinstatement of the 1960 treaty, considered vital to Pakistan’s agriculture, energy, and drinking water supply.

India, however, has linked the suspension of the treaty directly to national security, asserting that any revival of the agreement hinges on Pakistan taking “credible and irreversible” steps to dismantle cross-border terror networks. Officials in New Delhi maintain that the treaty remains suspended until Islamabad shows a meaningful commitment to ending its support for terrorism.

The IWT, brokered by the World Bank, governs the use and distribution of six rivers — the Indus, Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas, and Sutlej. While India controls the eastern rivers, the western rivers, crucial to Pakistan’s economy, flow into its territory from across the border.

The suspension of the treaty has deepened Pakistan’s water crisis. Nearly 90 percent of the country’s agriculture, as well as its hydropower systems, depend on the Indus Basin, which originates largely outside Pakistan’s borders. With dwindling resources, the situation has been described by Pakistani lawmakers as a looming “water bomb.”

Under growing internal criticism, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is now desperately signaling a willingness to resume peace talks with India, emphasizing that dialogue is essential for resolving long-standing disputes — including over water, NDTV said.

India, for its part, has accused Pakistan of undermining the goodwill embedded in the treaty. At an informal session of the UN Security Council on May 24, India’s Permanent Representative P. Harish highlighted Pakistan’s repeated obstructions of treaty-sanctioned infrastructure upgrades.

“Despite multiple formal requests over the last two years to engage in discussions on permissible treaty modifications, Pakistan has stonewalled the process,” Harish said. He reminded the Council that while the IWT’s preamble called for cooperation and friendship, Pakistan had instigated three wars and backed numerous terror attacks against India.

New Delhi has long maintained, NDTV said, that the treaty represents an act of extraordinary goodwill by India — one that, according to officials, has not been reciprocated in spirit or practice.