Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday addressed the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) regarding the shared waters of the Indus and the Indus Water Treaty (IWT). Sharif told the gathering that any attempt by India to stop, obstruct or divert Pakistan’s share of the Indus waters “will be treated as an act of war.”
The Pakistani Prime Minister expressed in the 81st session of the Assembly that the shared waters of the Indus river system are “the lifeblood not only of the people of Pakistan but of the entire region.” He further stated that India has taken the unilateral decision to maintain the existing treaty in limbo had “no legal basis whatsoever”.
Sharif points to the current PCA ordersnoted that India’s claims had been rejected by UN experts and the arbitral tribunal and that India’s unilateral decision to suspend the existing treaty had no legal basis. He said:
Water should never be used as a weapon. Rivers were meant to feed nations. Don’t share them. Therefore, any attempt to stop, obstruct or divert Pakistan’s share of the waters will be treated as an act of war. India must not make any mistake here.
The IWT is a bilateral agreement between the governments of India and Pakistan, mediated by the World Bank in 1960. It regulates the use of the Indus river system, which originates from the river Tibetan plateau and flows through India to Pakistan– and describes the rights and responsibilities of each individual in relation to the use of water and the provision of settlements.
In April 2025 after a tragic militant attack In the Baisaran Valley near Pahalgam in Indian-administered Kashmir, the Indian government responded with a temporary suspension of IWT. India said the treaty would remain in abeyance until Pakistan takes action against cross-border terrorism. Subsequently, the water flow was restricted for a short period by the Baglihar and Kishanganga dams.
Pakistan then responded with It expels Indian military links, closes its airspace to Indian aircraft and expresses its intention to raise the issue in international forums such as the United Nations and the International Court of Justice (ICJ). Even though relations repeatedly deteriorated, the IWT remained intact to the end in every conflict Attacks in Pahalgam where gunmen opened fire on tourists, resulting in 26 civilians died. Critics like the Lowy Institute have argued that India’s suspension of the IWT indicates a growing tendency to use treaties as a political tool rather than promoting stability.
The IWT also provides for the establishment of the arbitration tribunal to resolve any disputes that arise from the sharing of water from the Indus river system by India and Pakistan. In June 2025, the arbitral tribunal issued its unanimous decision Additional prize for competencewhich held that India’s suspension of the treaty had not removed the jurisdiction of the tribunal.
New Delhi rejected the authority of the tribunal on the ground that it had never legally recognized the existence of the tribunal and therefore any decision issued by it was per se unlawful and void. The following August the tribunal affirmed that it was competent and its decisions were binding despite India’s refusal to participate. India recently rejected this PCAs Award for maximum pond volumea technical issue involving how much water can be stored for run-of-river hydroelectric power plants on the Western Rivers.
In his speech, Sharif also thanked President Donald Trump for his intervention when Pakistan faced external aggression from India. In addition, he emphasized that the Jammu and Kashmir dispute A fair solution must be found to ensure peace in South Asia.
