ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s top diplomat at the United Nations on Friday raised alarm over India’s decision to suspend a decades-old river water sharing mechanism between the two nations after a gun attack killed 26 people in the disputed Kashmir region on April 22.
New Delhi blamed Islamabad for the assault in Pahalgam, a tourist hotspot in Indian-administered Kashmir, despite Pakistani denial of involvement and calls for an independent investigation. India also expelled Pakistani diplomats, shut a major border crossing and suspended the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) in the wake of the attack.
Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the UN, told a media briefing at the UN his country “categorically rejects any attempt to associate it with the 22 April terrorist incident” and had condemned it alongside other Security Council members.
He described India’s conduct as “incendiary,” saying it disregarded international law and could have “far-reaching consequences for global peace and stability.”
“Of grave and particular concern is India’s irresponsible decision to hold in abeyance the historic Indus Waters Treaty of 1960, a landmark, legally binding agreement brokered and guaranteed by the World Bank,” he said.
“Holding of IWT in abeyance is unilateral and illegal,” he continued. “There are no such provisions in the Treaty. India’s unilateral and unlawful actions are bound to undermine regional peace and stability with catastrophic implications.”
The Pakistani envoy warned that the suspension of the IWT posed “an existential threat to the people of Pakistan” and amounted to the usurpation of the rights of lower riparian states.
“If left unchecked by the international community, such actions risk setting a dangerous precedent that could undermine the legal rights for lower riparian states, potentially triggering new global conflicts over shared water resources,” he said.
Ahmad also expressed concern over escalating rights violations in Indian-administered Kashmir, the only Muslim-majority region under New Delhi’s control, since the Pahalgam attack.
He cited reports of arbitrary detentions, home demolitions and “collective punishment” imposed on civilians by the Indian authorities.
He reiterated Pakistan’s longstanding position that the root cause of instability in South Asia was the unresolved Jammu and Kashmir dispute, and warned of the risk of wider conflict in the nuclear-armed region.
“Escalation in South Asia, home to nearly two billion people, favors none,” Ahmad said. “It is time for sanity to prevail and allow dialogue and diplomacy to prevent the situation from spiraling out of control.”
Pakistan’s UN envoy says India’s suspension of water treaty ‘illegal,’ poses ‘existential threat’
https://arab.news/j8674
Pakistan’s UN envoy says India’s suspension of water treaty ‘illegal,’ poses ‘existential threat’
- Ambassador Ahmad warns India’s action could set a dangerous precedent undermining rights of lower riparian states
- He says Pakistan rejects any attempt to associate it to the April 22 attack, which it condemned alongside other nations
Pakistani minister urges universal rights, dialogue at UN civilizations forum in Riyadh
- Musadik Malik warns selective application of human rights and weakening multilateralism risk deepening global divisions
- The minister also mentions water rights and urges equitable sharing by upper riparian states to support regional stability
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s climate change minister said principles of justice and human rights must be applied universally, according to an official statement released on Monday, warning against selective enforcement as he addressed a United Nations forum in Saudi Arabia focused on dialogue among civilizations.
The remarks came at the 11th Global Forum of the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC), held in Riyadh to mark the body’s 20th anniversary. The forum brings together political leaders, policymakers, and civil society groups to promote dialogue, mutual understanding, and cooperation across cultures and religions.
Its latest edition comes at a time of growing geopolitical fragmentation and conflict.
“I am firmly committed to women’s rights, minority rights, environmental rights, and children’s rights,” Musadik Malik said while addressing the gathering. “These rights are fundamental and non-negotiable.”
He said the global order was increasingly marked by weakening multilateralism, rising conflicts, and declining international funding for development and environmental priorities, cautioning that unilateral actions were replacing collective approaches with consequences for global peace and justice.
Malik questioned what he described as the selective application of human rights principles, drawing attention to the situations in Palestine and Kashmir, and said the rights of people in those regions must be recognized and protected in line with international norms.
The minister also highlighted water rights as a growing source of regional tension, emphasizing the responsibility of upper riparian states to ensure equitable and just sharing of water resources with downstream countries to support stability and sustainable development.
His statement comes months after India said unilaterally it was holding the Indus Waters Treaty “in abeyance,” a move described as illegal by the administration in Islamabad and as “an act of war.”
The 1960 agreement between India and Pakistan, brokered by the World Bank, divides the rivers of the Indus basin between the two countries and sets rules for how they can use and manage shared water resources to avoid conflict.
Malik said the UNAOC’s 20th anniversary was a timely reminder of the need to recommit to dialogue, peace, and mutual respect in an increasingly divided world.
