ISSI launches report examining legal, strategic implications of IWT suspension

ISLAMABAD  –  The Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad (ISSI) yesterday launched a special report examining the historical, legal, technical and strategic dimensions of the suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT), with speakers warning that developments surrounding the agreement could have serious implications for Pakistan’s water, food and strategic security. Speaking at the launch seminar of the report, titled “Weaponising Waters: Historical, Legal, and Strategic Dimensions of IWT Suspension,” Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Attaullah Tarar said the Indus Waters Treaty was a legally binding international agreement whose provisions did not allow either party to unilaterally alter, rescind, revoke or hold it in abeyance.

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He said the Treaty provided established mechanisms for resolving differences and disputes, requiring Pakistan and India to address disagreements within its legal framework rather than through unilateral action.

The minister further said that when the Treaty was signed, its signatories “did not envisage that there would come a time a few decades down the line when conditions in India would deteriorate so much that they would be legally ignorant, morally bankrupt and devoid of ethics.”

Tarar reaffirmed that Pakistan would continue to pursue the matter through diplomatic and legal channels and defend its fundamental water rights in accordance with international law.

Former Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs and Defence Eng. Khurram Dastgir-Khan described India’s evolving water strategy as a “real and systemic danger”, cautioning that the issue went beyond individual or high-profile hydropower projects and pointed towards what he termed a systematic assault on Pakistan’s water security.

He stressed that the growing risks to the Western Rivers and the nearly 200 million people dependent on them should not be viewed merely as a diplomatic issue, but as a serious challenge to Pakistan’s strategic stability.

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Prof. Dr. Arshi Saleem Hashmi, Dean of the Faculty of Contemporary Studies (FCS) at National Defence University Islamabad, said the Indus Waters Treaty had once been regarded as a “textbook example” of successful water diplomacy, having survived wars and periods of intense political tension between Pakistan and India.

She noted that water management had historically remained decoupled from the broader political and territorial disputes between the two countries. However, she warned that following India’s decision to hold the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance, actions that increase human vulnerability could have serious implications for Pakistan’s agriculture and food security, as well as for regional peace and stability

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The speakers appreciated the India Study Centre at ISSI for undertaking what they described as a timely and useful initiative and for producing a comprehensive report examining the Indus Waters Treaty through historical, legal, technical and strategic perspectives.

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