Dar urges UNSC action on India's river moves

DPM writes letter to top UN body over New Delhi's plan to alter flow of rivers

ISLAMABAD:

Ambassador Asim Iftikhar hands over a letter by the Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar to President of the UN Security Council for June 2026 and Permanent Representative of Colombia to the UN.

Pakistan on Friday asked the UN Security Council (UNSC) to take notice of India's attempts to alter the flow of rivers governed by the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT), with Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar warning in a letter that two Indian infrastructure projects on the Chenab river system are aimed at diverting water and could threaten Pakistan's water, food, and economic security.

In April last year, following a deadly attack on tourists in the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), India unilaterally suspended the 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.

Pakistan's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, in a post on X, said that he had handed over a letter from Dar to the President of the UN Security Council and Colombia's Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Leonor Zalabata Torres, raising concerns over India's continued violations of the IWT of 1960.

According to the envoy, the letter concerns "India's continued illegal actions and violations of the IWT of 1960". It seeks to draw the Council's attention to developments related to the Chenab River system.

"The letter draws urgent attention of the Security Council to two illegal Indian infrastructure projects linked to the Chenab River system aimed at water diversion," he said.

He added that the projects "reveal India's intention to illegally alter the Treaty-governed flow and use of the Western Rivers, weaponising water with dangerous implications for Pakistan's water, food, and economic security as well as regional stability and international peace and security".

The Pakistani envoy said the UNSC had been urged "to take cognisance of this fragile and deteriorating situation and hold India accountable for its brazen violations".

Iftikhar further said he briefed the Security Council president on "the overall situation in South Asia" and raised concerns over "India's continued non-compliance with its obligations under UN Security Council resolutions on the Jammu and Kashmir dispute".

A day earlier, Dar addressed the Brussels Conference on "Transboundary Water Resources: A Weaponised Global Common", warning that India was pursuing a strategy of "hydro-hegemony", with at least 17 projects, including reservoir and river diversion schemes, designed to alter the Indus river system drastically.

"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.