Illegitimate IWT defiance

India's continued defiance of its international legal obligations under the Indus Water Treaty is causing concern well beyond the borders of India and Pakistan, especially after repeated Pakistani warnings that if India actually follows through on its threat to violate the terms of the 65-year-old deal, Pakistan will take it as an act of war. A fresh reminder has come from Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar in a virtual address to a seminar in Washington.

However, Indian government officials continue to periodically threaten to block Pakistan's rivers – that too despite an international court recently supporting Pakistan's position. India had no right to unilaterally "hold the IWT in abeyance", its ministers and government touts are regularly making comments that flout the country's international obligations, and yet, they have the gall to accuse us of using belligerent language for saying we will fight to protect what is universally accepted as being ours. Even though Pakistan has consistently sought to resolve differences through dialogue, diplomacy and the mechanisms provided under the treaty, India has wilfully chosen the path of confrontation over cooperation and coercion over legality. Its refusal to restore technical engagement and water data-sharing only deepens the crisis, as that data can prove to be a critical flood mitigation tool.

It is also worth noting that India's water threats are not just illegal, they are cruel and inhuman. Withholding water means forcing a population to starve and go thirsty. It seems Narendra Modi is learning from his friend and fellow genocide supporter Benjamin Netanyahu. Unfortunately, when the global order refuses to properly address an actual genocide by a regime full of war criminals, there is little hope that it would intervene in a situation where 'only' threats of war crimes are being made. By allowing countries to walk away from binding agreements without consequences, world powers are inviting the collapse of the so-called rules-based order that has been a cornerstone of international relations since the end of World War II.