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Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar warned on Thursday of “at least 17” projects by India designed to drastically alter the Indus river system and lend it “tools for hydro-hegemony”.
The deputy prime minister, in a recorded keynote address at a seminar titled “Transboundary Water Resources: A Weaponised Global Common”, said that responsible states act “within established legal frameworks” rather than abandoning them — referring to the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) between Pakistan and India that has been unilaterally suspended by India since May of last year.
“The treaty envisages the peaceful resolution of disputes within its own framework,” he said, highlighting that it survived “three major conflicts and several other challenges” over the decades. He also noted that Pakistan had previously voiced concerns over “certain actions by India” under the treaty.
Dar stated that Pakistan had consistently upheld the values enshrined in the United Nations charter, and remained committed to its principles as well as UN resolutions.
