FM Dar warns India's water projects aim to establish 'hydro-hegemony'

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar on Thursday warned that India was pursuing what he described as a strategy of "hydro-hegemony", saying that at least 17 projects, including reservoir and river diversion schemes, were designed to alter the Indus river system drastically.

In April last year, following a deadly attack on tourists in the Indian-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), India unilaterally suspended the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) after accusing Pakistan of backing the attackers — a charge Islamabad categorically denied. The treaty has since remained at the centre of renewed tensions between the two neighbours over the sharing of transboundary water resources.

Addressing the Brussels Conference on "Transboundary Water Resources: A Weaponised Global Common", Dar said India's actions went beyond rhetoric and posed a challenge to the IWT framework.

"It is important to underscore that our concerns are not merely based on Indian statements," he said.

"India has followed up its belligerent statements with illegal actions; these include projects to create reservoirs such as Sawalkot, Kirthai, Kwar etc; the expansion of existing structures such as Baglihar and Salal; and, most alarmingly, diversion projects on the Indus, Chenab and Ravi rivers.

"In total, at least 17 such projects that will drastically alter the river system as a whole, giving India the tools for 'hydro-hegemony' that it so desires," he added.

Read: 'Not a single drop of water will flow to Pakistan': Indian minister threatens to block water supply

The deputy prime minister said the conference was timely as it brought together experts to discuss climate change, water resource management and the political dimensions of transboundary water governance.

"Shared resources require cooperative management through agreed frameworks; otherwise, competing interests can turn them into sources of conflict and weaponisation, as increasingly seen today," he said, adding that peaceful coexistence depended on respect for treaties, agreements and multilateral frameworks.

Referring to the Indus Waters Treaty signed between Pakistan and India in 1960, Dar said Pakistan had consistently upheld the principles of the UN Charter and remained committed to resolving disputes through the treaty's legal framework.

"The treaty envisages the peaceful resolution of disputes within its own framework," he said, noting that it had survived three major conflicts and several other challenges over the decades.

FM Dar said Pakistan had previously raised concerns over certain Indian actions under the treaty but had always pursued available legal mechanisms.

"We sought settlement through international mechanisms and respected decisions even when they fell short of our expectations," he said.

Criticising India's unilateral suspension of the treaty, Dar said abandoning established legal frameworks could not be considered a responsible course of action.

"Responsible states act within established legal frameworks rather than abandoning them," he said.

"And yet, today, we find ourselves confronted with precisely such a challenge."

The foreign minister said rivers were not merely waterways but lifelines carrying historical, cultural and economic significance.

"The stated policy of our eastern neighbour to intentionally deprive 240 million people of their rightful access to water represents a catastrophe in the making, of unparalleled magnitude."

Also Read: FM Dar urges UNSC president to press India to restore Indus Waters Treaty

He stressed that water should never be used as a means of coercion.

"It is a shared resource, a common responsibility, and ultimately a prerequisite for human dignity and sustainable development. The future of transboundary water governance must therefore be anchored in cooperation and respect for international law."

Dar said the issue should not be viewed solely through the lens of South Asia, arguing that respect for treaties formed the foundation of the international order.

"The sanctity of treaties is the bedrock of the international order," he said.

Reiterating Pakistan's position, the foreign minister said the country remained committed to resolving disputes peacefully.

"Pakistan remains committed to resolving all issues through dialogue, diplomacy, and the mechanisms provided under international law," he said.

"Our position is guided not by confrontation, but by the conviction that lasting solutions can only emerge through cooperation and respect for mutually agreed obligations."

Linking the issue to climate change, Dar said Pakistan was confronting the water challenge at a time when it ranked among the world's most climate-vulnerable countries, despite contributing less than one per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions.

Read More: Dar accuses India of violating IWT as Chenab levels fall

"This is a moment that calls for enhanced international cooperation and collaboration on water-related issues," he said.

Dar urged participants to draw lessons from the Indus Waters Treaty while examining experiences from other regions.

"Let us reaffirm today that shared waters should unite nations rather than divide them, and that cooperation, not coercion, must remain the guiding principle of transboundary water governance," he concluded.

India rattled by Brussels event on water weaponisation

Meanwhile, India has launched a concerted campaign to undermine the seminar in Brussels amid growing global scrutiny of New Delhi's unilateral suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT), diplomatic sources said on Thursday.

The seminar was organised by the Embassy of Pakistan to Belgium, Luxembourg, the European Union and NATO in collaboration with the Brussels-based think tank, the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), attracting diplomats, members of the European Parliament, European Union officials, researchers, academics and journalists, reflecting growing international interest in the implications of weaponising shared water resources.

According to diplomatic sources, the Indian side has been unnerved by Pakistan's efforts to internationalise the issue of transboundary water governance and expose the dangers posed by the weaponisation of shared water resources.

Diplomatic sources said India's reaction to the Brussels event reflected its growing discomfort over what they described as a "losing narrative battle" on the Indus Waters Treaty and broader questions of compliance with international obligations.

"India's panic over a scholarly and policy-oriented discussion on transboundary water resources speaks volumes. If New Delhi believes its actions are legally and morally defensible, it should welcome debate rather than seek to suppress it," a diplomatic source said.

Read: Climate Minister Malik warns India against weaponisation of water at global conference in Dushanbe

According to officials familiar with the matter, Indian efforts to disrupt the event took multiple forms in recent days.

First, a coordinated social media campaign targeted both the seminar and its organisers. Several posts sought to portray the event as politically motivated while attempting to discourage participation.

Second, diplomatic sources alleged that Indian officials exerted pressure on a number of panellists, resulting in some withdrawals shortly before the event.

Third, organisers reportedly faced a wave of suspicious and fake registrations through the think tank's website, a move sources said appeared aimed at disrupting logistical arrangements and creating confusion around attendance.

Diplomatic sources described the actions as an attempt to intimidate participants and divert attention from the substantive issues under discussion.

"The objective is not difficult to understand. India wants to prevent a serious conversation on the implications of weaponising shared water resources and the broader consequences for international law and regional stability," another source said.

The seminar examined the growing significance of transboundary water resources at the intersection of climate change, regional security and international law, while discussing challenges arising from the increasing weaponisation of shared water resources.

A video message by Dar served as the keynote address. The event also featured Minister for Climate Change and Environmental Coordination Senator Dr Musadik Malik, along with European and international experts on water governance, climate policy and international law.

The discussions were organised around two panels: "Climate, Society and Water Vulnerability" and "Transboundary Cooperation, Rule of Law and Water Weaponisation."

The first panel focused on Pakistan's climate vulnerability, recurrent flooding and the impact of water-related challenges on communities, ecosystems and food security. The second panel examined legal and diplomatic mechanisms governing shared water resources, with particular reference to the Indus Waters Treaty and lessons from water-sharing arrangements around the world.

Addressing the gathering, Pakistan's Ambassador to the European Union described transboundary water resources as a critical pillar of regional stability, global security and the international legal order. He noted that more than 250 million Pakistanis depend on the Indus Basin and reaffirmed Pakistan's commitment to the Treaty and the peaceful resolution of disputes through established mechanisms.

Read More: Zardari urges India to fully restore IWT, warns against ‘weaponisation’ of water

Diplomatic sources argued that India's aggressive response had inadvertently amplified Pakistan's message by drawing greater international attention to both the seminar and the broader debate over the future of transboundary water governance.

"Instead of engaging constructively, India is once again attempting to silence debate and obscure uncomfortable questions regarding its own conduct," a source remarked.

The sources maintained that New Delhi's actions formed part of a broader effort to deflect international attention from what they described as India's troubling record on international law and treaty compliance.

"India's campaign is designed to obfuscate the core issues and distract the global community from its own actions. The real question is whether unilateral measures against a long-standing international treaty can be justified under any accepted legal framework," a diplomatic source said.

Officials praised the Pakistani mission in Brussels for spearheading what they described as a timely initiative to raise awareness about the global implications of weaponised water policies.

They expressed confidence that attempts to disrupt the seminar would fail and that the discussions would contribute to a wider international conversation on protecting transboundary water agreements from political coercion.

"The stronger the attempts to suppress debate, the clearer it becomes that this discussion is both necessary and relevant," a diplomatic source added.

The IWT and why it matters

The IWT of 1960 stands as one of the most carefully negotiated and legally robust transboundary water agreements in modern international law. Concluded between Pakistan and India with the good offices of the World Bank, the treaty was designed to remove water from the volatility of politics and conflict and to anchor it firmly in law, engineering discipline, and neutral dispute resolution. It is a binding international instrument governed by the foundational principle of pacta sunt servanda — that treaties must be honoured in good faith.

Read: Pakistan accuses India of violating Indus Waters Treaty

At the heart of the IWT lies a permanent and unqualified allocation of rivers. Article II vests the eastern rivers — Ravi, Beas, and Sutlej — exclusively in India, while Article III accords Pakistan exclusive rights over the western rivers — Indus, Jhelum, and Chenab. This allocation was the treaty’s foundational bargain.

India’s access to the western rivers is permitted only within the narrow confines of Article III(2) of the Indus Waters Treaty, read with Annexures D and E, allowing limited, non-consumptive uses such as run-of-the-river hydroelectric projects. These permissions are subject to strict design and operational constraints, including limits on pondage, prohibition of storage for flow regulation, and a ban on engineering features enabling control over water flows to Pakistan.

These safeguards were intended to protect Pakistan as the lower riparian and prevent water from becoming a strategic tool. Pakistan’s objections to projects such as Kishanganga and Ratle stem from concerns over excessive pondage, gated spillways, and drawdown mechanisms, which it says violate treaty provisions and could affect downstream flows, particularly during lean seasons.

The dispute entered a more troubling phase in April 2025, when, following a terrorist incident in Pahalgam, India announced that it was placing the Indus Waters Treaty “in abeyance”.

Read More: India skips IWT case proceedings at The Hague

Earlier this year, India unilaterally approved the Dulhasti Stage-II Hydropower Project on the Chenab River, an action that violates the treaty’s provisions governing the western rivers and infringes upon Pakistan’s legally protected rights under the binding international agreement.

The unilateral suspension and expedited approval of upstream projects, including the withholding of hydrological data, diversion of river flows, and alteration of natural regimes, constitute deliberate water weaponisation, jeopardising Pakistan’s agriculture, food security, hydropower generation, and ecological stability. Under the IWT, customary international law, and Article 51 of the UN Charter, Pakistan has clear legal avenues to respond.

International law expressly prohibits the use of water as a weapon against downstream populations, making strict enforcement of the IWT essential not only for bilateral stability but also for the integrity of global water governance norms.