KARACHI: The head of Pakistan’s diplomatic mission touring world capitals to explain Islamabad’s position on a recent military standoff with New Delhi warned Friday India’s threat to cut off his country’s water supply could lead to the “first water war” between two nuclear-armed states at a think tank in Brussels.
The warning came after New Delhi announced in April it was suspending the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty, a World Bank-brokered agreement seen as a cornerstone of India-Pakistan water cooperation, following a deadly gun attack in Kashmir, which it blamed on Pakistan.
Islamabad denied any involvement and called for an impartial international probe. However, tensions quickly escalated, with both sides deploying fighter jets, missiles, drones and artillery fire before a US-brokered ceasefire was announced by President Donald Trump on May 10.
Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, Pakistan’s former foreign minister and the current head of the country’s diplomatic outreach, told the European think tank India’s threat to disrupt river flows affecting 240 million people amounted to a “war crime.”
“It would turn this into an existential crisis, and we would be left with no choice but to embark on the first water war… between two nuclear-armed states,” he said.
Bhutto-Zardari described the Indus Waters Treaty as “the gold standard in diplomacy,” noting it had survived multiple wars and had been replicated in over 40 other international water-sharing agreements.
He said recent Indian actions, such as the delayed or excessive release of water, had already damaged Pakistan’s crops and posed a humanitarian risk.
“Just a few days’ delay in water release can have devastating consequences for our agriculture,” he said. “This is the only water supply into Pakistan. In the context of climate vulnerability, the last thing we need is a fault line developing where cooperation once existed.”
His other delegation members maintained undermining the treaty would set a dangerous global precedent, allowing upper riparian states anywhere in the world to disregard binding water-sharing agreements.
“If this treaty is in abeyance, then no treaty signed after World War II is worth the paper it’s written on,” Musadik Malik, the climate change minister, said. “That threatens the rights of lower riparian countries across Africa, South America and beyond.”
Earlier, in a brief exchange with reporters, Bhutto-Zardari welcomed renewed interest from Washington in mediating between India and Pakistan.
“As you have seen, President [Donald] Trump said once again yesterday that he is ready to mediate on Kashmir,” he noted. “At the moment, Pakistan is talking about peace, America is also talking about peace. If anyone is still talking about war, it is India, and, by the grace of God, they will step back from this position soon.”
Responding to a query, Bhutto-Zardari strongly condemned Israel’s military operations against Iran and its broader regional policies.
“We strongly oppose the attack on Iran and the way the war is being waged in this region,” he said. “No amount of condemnation is enough. We demand that this war be stopped and that the entire world plays its role. Peace is very important in our territory. We cannot afford Israel’s war on Iran to continue for long.”
