Pakistan rejects India’s UNSC remarks on Indus Waters Treaty dispute

Pakistan has pushed back sharply against India after a public exchange at the United Nations Security Council over the Indus Waters Treaty, with Islamabad saying New Delhi’s attempt to hold the agreement in abeyance has no legal basis. The dispute surfaced during a UNSC open debate on natural resource governance, where Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, raised concerns about India’s unilateral move on the treaty. According to the feed details, he argued that no country should be allowed to use shared water resources as leverage for political pressure, particularly when treaty obligations are involved. India’s envoy to the UN, Harish Parvathaneni, responded by accusing Pakistan of state-backed cross-border terrorism and said that this had damaged the foundations of bilateral cooperation on the treaty. He also repeated India’s position on occupied Kashmir, according to the summary provided by Indian news agency ANI. Pakistan’s rebuttal came through First Secretary Ansar Shah, who described India’s comments as a misleading attempt to distort the record. He said the treaty contains no clause that allows one side to suspend it unilaterally and called India’s action “simply illegal.” Shah also cited a ruling from the Permanent Court of Arbitration, saying that in August 2025 it reaffirmed that the treaty remains valid, binding and fully in force, along with its dispute-settlement provisions. On that basis, he argued that India cannot set aside the agreement on its own. The exchange matters because the Indus Waters Treaty has long been one of the few surviving frameworks governing relations between the two countries, even during periods of intense political tension. Any challenge to that arrangement raises concerns well beyond the courtroom or the UN chamber, especially for Pakistan, which depends heavily on river flows covered by the pact. Pakistan’s latest response also underscores how quickly water-sharing issues have become tied to broader political and security disputes. In Shah’s remarks, the issue was framed not just as a treaty disagreement but as a potential threat to regional stability. The feed says he warned that using a shared natural resource for coercion would amount to a serious breach of legal and international norms. What remains unclear from the available details is how India will respond diplomatically and whether the UN exchange will lead to any new formal escalation. The feed does not provide the full context of the UNSC debate, nor does it include the complete wording of either delegation’s remarks. Still, the latest back-and-forth shows that the water dispute remains tightly linked to the broader India-Pakistan relationship. With both sides now accusing the other of bad faith, the treaty continues to serve as both a legal instrument and a political flashpoint.

Source: Dawn Home - https://www.dawn.com/news/2017759/pakistan-hits-back-at-indias-attempt-to-distort-facts-says-holding-iwt-in-abeyance-simply-illegal