Get the latest news and updates from Dawn
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said on Thursday that at least 17 projects by India on waterways part of the Indus River System would give New Delhi the “tools for hydro-hegemony”.
Dar’s statement has come at a time when water and the Indus Waters Treaty remain a contentious issue between India and Pakistan, following New Delhi’s unilateral abeyance of the accord last year — a move that followed a brief military conflict between the two sides in May 2025.
More recently, Indian Water Minister CR Patil said his country was working to ensure “not a single drop of water” would flow into Pakistan. Meanwhile, Pakistan has maintained that any attempt to change the flow of cross-border waterways would be considered an “act of war”.
It was against this backdrop that Dar’s keynote address, touching upon the matter, was played at a seminar titled “Transboundary Water Resources: A Weaponised Global Common”. The seminar was jointly organised by Pakistan’s embassy in Brussels and the Centre for European Policy Studies.
