Geneva, May 24 — India strongly countered Pakistan’s claims on the Indus Waters Treaty at a UN forum, accusing Islamabad of misrepresenting facts and violating the spirit of the decades-old agreement through repeated wars and cross-border terrorism.
“We are constrained to respond to the disinformation being carried out by the delegation of Pakistan with regard to the Indus Waters Treaty,” said India’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Parvathaneni Harish, during a UN Security Council Arria Formula meeting on Protecting Water in Armed Conflict – Protecting Civilian Lives, convened by Slovenia.
Harish said India, as an upper riparian state, has always acted responsibly, and entered the 1960 treaty “in good faith.” However, he said, “Pakistan has violated the spirit of the treaty by inflicting three wars and thousands of terror attacks on India.”
The Indian envoy said India’s decision to suspend the treaty followed the April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, where 26 civilians were killed. “Even as India has shown extraordinary patience and magnanimity throughout this period, Pakistan’s state-sponsored cross-border terrorism in India seeks to hold hostage the lives of civilians, religious harmony, and economic prosperity,” Harish said.
Highlighting four key points to refute Pakistan’s allegations, Harish recalled that the Treaty’s preamble referred to a foundation of “goodwill and friendship.” Yet, in the past four decades alone, over 20,000 Indians have died in terror attacks allegedly backed by Pakistan, he said.
Harish also noted India’s repeated attempts over the last two years to initiate discussions on modifications to the treaty in light of evolving realities—including clean energy needs, demographic changes, and infrastructure safety. “Pakistan’s obstructionist approach continues to prevent the exercise of full utilisation of legitimate rights by India,” he stated.
He argued that while technology has significantly advanced, enabling safer and more efficient dam infrastructure, Pakistan has “consistently blocked” any updates to aging structures, despite such modifications being permissible under the treaty.
The suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty, Harish made clear, will remain until Pakistan “credibly and irrevocably abjures” its support for cross-border terrorism.
