ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Attaullah Tarar (Nishan-i-Imtiaz) has said the Indus Waters Treaty is a legally binding international agreement and its provisions do not permit either party to unilaterally alter, rescind, revoke or keep it in abeyance.<\/p>\n
He was speaking at the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad (ISSI) during the launch of the special report titled \u201cWeaponising Waters: Historical, Legal, and Strategic Dimensions of IWT Suspension.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tarar said the treaty contained established mechanisms for resolving differences and disputes, requiring Pakistan and India to deal with disagreements within its legal framework instead of resorting to unilateral measures.<\/p>\n
He observed that when the treaty was signed, its signatories \u201cdid not envisage that there would come a time a few decades down the line when conditions in India would deteriorate so much that they would be legally ignorant, morally bankrupt and devoid of ethics\u201d.<\/p>\n
The minister reaffirmed that Pakistan would continue to pursue the matter through diplomatic and legal channels and defend its fundamental water rights in line with international law.<\/p>\n
Eng. Khurram Dastgir-Khan (HI), former federal minister for foreign affairs and defence, termed India\u2019s evolving water strategy a real and systemic danger. He warned that the challenge went beyond individual or high-profile hydropower projects and reflected a systematic assault on Pakistan\u2019s water security.<\/p>\n
He said the increasing risks to the Western Rivers and nearly 200 million people dependent on them should not be treated only as a diplomatic matter, but as a serious challenge to Pakistan\u2019s strategic stability.<\/p>\n
Prof. Dr. Arshi Saleem Hashmi, Dean, Faculty of Contemporary Studies, National Defence University Islamabad, said the Indus Waters Treaty had once been regarded as a \u201ctextbook example\u201d of successful water diplomacy, having endured wars and intense political tensions between Pakistan and India.<\/p>\n
She noted that water management had historically remained decoupled from political and territorial disputes between the two countries. However, she said that following India\u2019s decision to hold the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance, actions that increase human vulnerability could carry serious consequences for Pakistan\u2019s agriculture and food security, as well as for peace and regional stability.<\/p>\n
The speakers appreciated the India Study Centre at ISSI for undertaking what they described as a useful and timely exercise, and for producing a comprehensive report examining the Indus Waters Treaty from historical, legal, technical and strategic perspectives.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
At an ISSI seminar, speakers said the Indus Waters Treaty cannot be unilaterally altered or held in abeyance and warned of risks to Pakistan\u2019s water security.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":21206,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[94],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21207","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pakistan"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21207","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21207"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21207\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21206"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21207"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21207"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peakpoint.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21207"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}