Shehbaz warns at UNGA: diverting Pakistan's Indus waters would be an 'act of war'
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif told the 81st UN General Assembly that any attempt to stop, impede or divert Pakistan's share of the Indus waters would be treated as an "act of war", calling India's move to hold the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance one with "no legal basis whatsoever".
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has warned that any attempt to stop, impede or divert Pakistan’s share of the Indus waters will be treated as an “act of war”.
Addressing the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Friday, he said the shared waters of the Indus river system were the lifeblood of Pakistan and the wider region, and stressed that “water must never be weaponised”.
“Rivers should nourish nations, not divide them,” he said. “Therefore, any attempt to stop, impede or divert Pakistan’s share of the waters will be treated as an act of war. India must make no mistake about it.”
Mr Sharif said India’s unilateral decision to hold the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance had “no legal basis whatsoever”, adding that India’s position and actions had been rejected by UN experts and, more recently, by the Court of Arbitration.
Pakistan’s position — that the treaty remained “valid, binding and fully operative” — had been “vindicated beyond any area of doubt”, he said.
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar made a similar argument earlier this week, calling the treaty a binding international agreement with no provision allowing unilateral suspension.
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