India declares intention to halt water supply from rivers serving Pakistan.
**"Indian Prime Minister Modi announced that water previously flowing to Pakistan would now be diverted within India," Modi asserted in a public speech.
India has abandoned its partnership in the 1960 water-sharing accord with Pakistan, known as the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT), as a response to the deadly April 22 attack in Pahalgam, Indian Kashmir, which took 26 lives.
Although no group claimed responsibility, India blamed Pakistan for the incident, a charge Pakistan firmly denied.
Tensions between the two nations have been escalating since this attack, the deadliest against civilians in Indian Kashmir in over twenty years.
There has been continued artillery fire between Indian and Pakistani soldiers at night along the border that divides the two countries for more than a week.
Today, Pakistan declared that India has manipulated the flow of the Chenab River, a waterway controlled by Pakistan according to the 1960 treaty.
"We've noticed changes in the Chenab that are unnatural (...) the river's natural flow has been significantly reduced overnight," stated Punjab Irrigation Minister Kazim Pirzada.
Following India's independent decision to withdraw from the treaty, Pakistan threatened any attempt to alter the flow of these rivers would be considered "an act of war."
The Punjab province, home to nearly half of Pakistan's population, is primarily agricultural and lies along the Indo-Pakistani border.
The IWT grants India the right to utilize shared rivers for dams and crops, but forbids it from diverting water courses or altering downstream water volume.
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The IWT, a water-sharing agreement signed in 1960 under the World Bank's mediation, allocates rivers between India and Pakistan as follows:
- India controls the eastern rivers (Ravi, Beas, Sutlej), primarily for irrigation and hydropower projects.
- Pakistan receives the western rivers (Indus, Jhelum, Chenab), which compose about 80% of the basin’s water. India's use of these rivers is limited to non-consumptive purposes and minimal irrigation.
Conflicts over the IWT have historically been resolved through the Permanent Indus Commission, a bilateral body charged with exchanging data and resolving technical issues. If disputes remain unresolved, they can be referred to a neutral expert or Court of Arbitration, with the World Bank facilitating both processes.
Pakistan depends heavily on the Indus for agriculture (over 90% of crops), water supply (75% of renewable water), and hydropower (20% of electricity).
Recent disputes between the two nations include India's 2025 suspension of the IWT following the Pahalgam attack and past conflicts such as the Baglihar Dam dispute (2005-2013) and the Kishanganga Dam dispute (2010-2018).
India could exploit unused treaty rights, potentially expanding irrigation to over 1.34 million acres in Jammu and Kashmir/Ladakh, up from 642,000 acres.
The IWT's future hangs in the balance due to legal ambiguity, potential water scarcity for millions of Pakistanis, and increased geopolitical tensions."
- The conflict over the diversion of water previously shared between India and Pakistan, as outlined by Modi, has nearly doubled the political tension and general news between the two nations due to the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) of 1960.
- Pakistan, with nearly half of its population residing in the agricultural Punjab province, has accused India of manipulating the flow of the Chenab River, one of the western rivers controlled by Pakistan according to the IWT.
- The world has been observing a shared history of war-and-conflicts between India and Pakistan, with disputes such as the Baglihar Dam dispute (2005-2013) and the Kishanganga Dam dispute (2010-2018) being notable examples.
- As India has suspended its participation in the IWT following the deadly attack in Indian Kashmir, Pakistan has threatened that any attempt to alter the flow of these waters would be considered an act of war, potentially escalating the long-standing disagreements between the nations.
