ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Saturday termed India’s decision to “illegally and unilaterally” suspend the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) as a serious violation of international law, including human rights law, treaty law, and customary international law.
The move is seen as an attempt to impede the flow of water guaranteed to Pakistan as guaranteed under the treaty brokered by the World Bank.
Pakistan’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Usman Jadoon, made these remarks while delivering Pakistan’s statement at the Arria Formula meeting on Protecting Water in Armed Conflict, convened by Slovenia at the United Nations in New York on Saturday.
Pakistan’s envoy noted that alarming statements by Indian leadership, such as threatening to “starve the people of Pakistan,” reflect a highly dangerous and perverse mindset.
“We strongly condemn India’s unlawful announcement to hold the treaty in abeyance and call upon India to strictly abide by its legal obligations and refrain from stopping, diverting or restricting rivers that are a lifeline for 240 million people in Pakistan. We will never accept any such moves,” he asserted.
Ambassador Jadoon reiterated Pakistan’s support for full compliance with international humanitarian law (IHL) and international human rights law, particularly with respect to the protection of water resources and related infrastructure.
Statement by Ambassador Usman Jadoon
Deputy Permanent Representative of Pakistan to the UN at the Arria Formula Meeting on Protecting Water in Armed Conflict
(23 May 2025)
********Mr. Chair,
I would like to thank Slovenia and the co-organizers for convening this meeting.… pic.twitter.com/GVIa0eFDyZ
— Permanent Mission of Pakistan to the UN (@PakistanUN_NY) May 24, 2025
He urged UN Security Council members to adopt a resolute, principled, and united stance against any efforts to weaponise water for political purposes.
Pakistan asks UN Security Council to take preventive action
Pakistan’s Deputy Permanent Representative also called on the UN Security Council to take preventive action by identifying situations where violations of international law—including IHL—could threaten peace and security or lead to catastrophic humanitarian consequences.
Citing regional and inter-state conflicts where freshwater resources and related infrastructure have been targeted to render them unusable or restrict access, Ambassador Jadoon made three key points:
Firstly, he said international law, including IHL and human rights law, clearly prohibits attacks on water infrastructure. Denying access to such resources violates established legal norms and UN Security Council resolutions.
Secondly, he stressed that all parties to a conflict are bound by IHL and must refrain from actions with grave humanitarian consequences.
Lastly, Ambassador Jadoon warned against using water as a weapon of war or as a political bargaining tool, arguing that such tactics threaten regional stability and peace, particularly when millions depend on access to water for their survival.
“It is deeply regrettable that one country, driven by malevolent intentions, has chosen not only to weaponise water but also to use it as a tool of political coercion,” he said.
Pakistan urges India to stop ‘state terrorism’
Earlier, Saima Saleem, Counsellor on Human Rights for Pakistan’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations, has categorically called on India to stop “state terrorism” and initiate meaningful dialogue.
Saima said this in response to India’s statement during the UN Security Council’s open debate. She said that India has once again resorted to misleading information, deflection and denial.
“No amount of obfuscation can hide the facts, India brazenly kills and maims civilians in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), carried out blatant aggression against Pakistan targeting civilians and sponsors terrorism and assassinations in my country and across the globe,” the counsellor told the 15-member council.
Targeting the Indian government’s unilateral suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty after the Pahalgam incident, she said India had even stooped to a new low of impeding the flow of rivers that serve as a lifeline for the 240 million people of Pakistan. Water is not a weapon of war, she added.
Pointing to the assassination of Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada and the conspiracy to assassinate Sikh leader Gurpatwant Singh in the US, Saima reminded the Security Council that India sponsors terrorism and target killings not only in Pakistan but across the world.
She said that Pakistan, along with the international community, condemned the Pahalgam incident.
“If India had nothing to hide, it should have agreed to credible, impartial and independent investigations into the incident,” the Pakistani delegate said. “On the contrary” she added, “India continues to subject people of IIOJK to state-sponsored terrorism to suppress their legitimate freedom struggle.”
Counsellor Saima reminded the UNSC members that between May 6 and 10, India also committed blatant aggression against Pakistan, launching unprovoked attacks on innocent civilians, killing 40 including 7 women and 15 children and injuring 121 others, including 10 women and 27 children.
Pointing to the recent heinous acts of terrorism in Pakistan, she said that India continues to provide financial and practical support to terrorist groups, including the Fitna Al Khawarij (TTP), Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) and Majeed Brigade, whose aim is to kill innocent civilians in Pakistan.
On May 21, a cowardly attack on a school bus in the Khuzdar district of Balochistan claimed the lives of innocent children and injured dozens.
She also said if India is genuinely committed to peace and security and good neighbourliness, it should end its state-sponsored terrorism, cease its oppression of Kashmiris, comply with its obligations under international law, UN Charter and bilateral treaties, and engage in meaningful dialogue for the peaceful resolution of the IIOJK dispute in accordance with relevant resolutions of the Security Council and the wishes of the Kashmiri people.
