Won't allow India to cross IWT red line: PM

Shehbaz alarmed by weaponisation of water

DUSHANBE:

Rejecting the weaponisation of water, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday warned that Pakistan would not allow India to cross the red line by holding the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance and endangering millions of lives for narrow political gains.

"India's unilateral and illegal decision to hold in abeyance the Indus Waters Treaty, which governs the sharing of the Indus Basin's water, is deeply regrettable. Millions of lives must not be held hostage to narrow political gains, and Pakistan will not allow this. We will never allow the red line to be crossed," the prime minister said, addressing the three-day High-Level International Conference on Glaciers' Preservation.

The conference is being attended by over 2,500 delegates from 80 UN member states and 70 international organizations, including prime ministers, vice presidents, ministers, and UN assistant secretaries-general.

The prime minister, in his comprehensive address, touched all the relevant issues, including glacial preservation, Pakistan's climate vulnerability, the 2022 floods in Pakistan, global climate action and responsibility, scientific projections on glacial melt, weaponisation of water and call to protect nature and humanity's shared destiny.

"The world today bears fresh scars from the use of conventional weapons in Gaza that have left deep wounds. As if that were not enough, we are now witnessing an alarming new low—the weaponisation of water," he told the international conference being hosted by the Government of Tajikistan in collaboration with the United Nations, UNESCO, WMO, the Asian Development Bank, and other key partners as a historic moment for climate ambition, glacier preservation, and international cooperation.

The 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly, through a resolution, had declared 2025 as the International Year of Glaciers' Preservation, 21st of March as World Day for Glaciers starting in 2025, and that the Government of Tajikistan will host the International Conference on the subject in 2025. The prime minister said that Pakistan, being home to over 13,000 glaciers, was the most concerning as glaciers contributed nearly half of the annual flows in the Indus River system – the lifeline of our civilisation, culture and economy.