ISLAMABAD: The head of a delegation visiting Washington DC to present Islamabad’s position following a recent military standoff with New Delhi said on Thursday India shutting down Pakistan’s water supply would be tantamount to laying the “foundations for the first nuclear water war.”
Tensions between nuclear-armed neighbors Pakistan and India are high after they struck a ceasefire on May 10 following the most intense military confrontation in decades. Both countries accuse the other of supporting militancy on each other’s soil — a charge both capitals deny.
The latest escalation, in which the two countries’ militaries traded missile, drones and artillery fire, was sparked after India accused Pakistan of supporting militants who attacked dozens of tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir on April 22, killing 26. Islamabad denies involvement. Following the attack, Delhi unilaterally “put in abeyance” the Indus Waters Treaty of 1960, which governs usage of the Indus river system. The accord has not been revived despite the rivals agreeing on a ceasefire on May 10.
“In the age of climate challenges that are to come, water scarcity and water wars, or anyway, used to be a theory,” Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, a former foreign minister who is heading the Pakistani delegation, said at an event at the Middle East Institute in Washington.
“India’s shutting off Pakistan’s water supply is laying the foundations for the first nuclear water war.”
Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, head of Pakistan’s diplomatic mission, speaks on Pakistan-US relations during a dialogue at the Middle East Institute in Washington, D.C. on June 5, 2025. (Photo courtesy: Bilawal House)
Islamabad had said after India suspended the Indus Waters Treaty that it considered any attempt to stop or divert the flow of water belonging to Pakistan to be an “act of war.”
About 80% of Pakistani farms depend on the Indus system, as do nearly all hydropower projects serving the country of some 250 million.
“It is an existential crisis for us,” Bhutto Zardari said in DC. “Any country on the planet, no matter their size, their strength, or their ability, would fight for their survival and fight for their water. India must abide by the Indus Waters Treaty.”
He urged Washington and other countries not to allow India to violate the treaty or fulfil its threat of stopping Pakistan’s rightful share of Indus waters.
“You cannot allow this precedent to be set in the Pakistan context, because we’ll fight the first war, but it won’t be the last,” Bhutto Zardari warned.
“If India is allowed to cut off our water, that means that every upper riparian with hostilities to a lower riparian now has a carte blanche.”
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced the nine-member diplomatic group last month, headed by Pakistan Peoples Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, who has been leading a team to visits in New York, Washington DC, London and Brussels since June 2. Another delegation, led by Special Assistant to the Prime Minister Syed Tariq Fatemi, has visited Moscow.
Earlier on Thursday, Bhutto Zardari’s delegation met members of the US Congressional Pakistan Caucus in Washington, including Republican party leaders Jack Bergman and Ryan Zinke and Democratic leaders Tom Suozzi and Ilhan Omar, among others.
“Pakistan remains committed to peace, but sadly, India consistently resists dialogue,” Bhutto Zardari told the American lawmakers, according to a statement released by Bilawal House, his official residence.
Pakistan and India, bitter rivals, have fought two out of three wars over the disputed territory of Kashmir that they both claim in full but govern only parts of.
