New Delhi, September 26, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s warning at the United Nations General Assembly that any attempt to “stop, impede or divert” Pakistan’s share of Indus waters would be treated as an “act of war” has brought the water-sharing dispute into sharper focus amid already strained India-Pakistan relations.
Sharif’s remarks came while referring to the military confrontation between the two countries in 2025 and India’s decision to place the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance following the April 2025 Pahalgam terror attack.
The warning highlights the importance Pakistan attaches to the Indus river system. The Indus Waters Treaty, signed in 1960 after World Bank-mediated negotiations, allocated the eastern rivers — Ravi, Beas and Sutlej — primarily to India and the western rivers — Indus, Jhelum and Chenab — primarily to Pakistan, while providing for specified uses by both countries.
The treaty survived repeated periods of hostility, including the India-Pakistan wars of 1965, 1971 and 1999. Its provisions have also remained central to disputes over hydroelectric projects and water use, with the World Bank serving a defined role in treaty mechanisms.
India’s position changed after the April 2025 Pahalgam terror attack, following which New Delhi announced that the treaty would remain in abeyance until Pakistan credibly and irrevocably ended its support for cross-border terrorism. The move linked the water arrangement more directly to the broader security relationship between the two countries.
That approach followed earlier shifts in India’s response to major terror attacks. After the 2016 Uri attack, India carried out surgical strikes across the Line of Control. Following the 2019 Pulwama attack, it conducted airstrikes on a Jaish-e-Mohammed facility in Balakot, marking a further expansion in the scope of its counterterror response.
The 2025 Pahalgam attack and the military confrontation that followed Operation Sindoor further intensified tensions. Sharif referred to those developments in his UN address while also crediting US President Donald Trump for what he described as a “timely intervention” during the confrontation.
The Indus issue carries particular significance for Pakistan because the western rivers form the core of the water system governed by the treaty and underpin extensive irrigation and other water uses. The World Bank has described the Indus Basin as supporting one of the world’s largest irrigation systems.
Sharif’s latest warning therefore underscores how prominently the Indus Waters issue has entered Pakistan’s strategic and political discourse. Whether the present approach changes Pakistan’s conduct remains an open question, but the water dispute has become an increasingly prominent component of the wider India-Pakistan relationship.
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