Indus Waters Treaty remains ‘valid, binding and operative’: Pakistan Deputy PM

Published 30 June 2026 · politics

Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar on Tuesday (June 20, 2026) said Pakistan rejects India’s decision to revoke the Indus Waters Treaty, adding that it “remains

Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar on Tuesday (June 20, 2026) said Pakistan rejects India’s decision to revoke the Indus Waters Treaty, adding that it “remains valid, binding and operative”. India suspended the treaty, brokered by the World Bank, as one of the punitive measures against Pakistan after the Pahalgam terror attack in April 2025 that killed 26 civilians. The treaty has governed the distribution and use of the Indus River and its tributaries between India and Pakistan since 1960. “No party can unilaterally suspend or terminate its obligations under a treaty that contains no such provision,” Mr. Dar claimed while addressing a seminar on the Indus Waters Treaty in Islamabad, Radio Pakistan reported.

He said the Indus Waters Treaty is not merely a water-sharing arrangement, but a "vital instrument of regional peace, stability and cooperation". The Minister further said the shared waters “must remain a bridge between nations, guided by cooperation, dialogue and respect for international law for the benefit of the present and future generations”. He claimed that any attempt to deprive Pakistan of the waters “rightfully allocated” to it would have “profound consequences” for regional peace and security. Suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty: What are the implications for India and Pakistan? The Indus Waters Treaty was signed on September 19, 1960, after nine years of negotiations with the aim of managing issues related to cross-border rivers.

In his address at the seminar titled 'The Indus Waters Treaty: A Key Instrument for Peace and Regional Stability', Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) chief Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that the Indus River was not for negotiations. The former Foreign Minister proposed a new "international convention against the weaponisation of waterways". He said that the convention should establish that waterways could not be used as instruments of coercion and the principle should apply globally, including the Strait of Hormuz, the Suez Canal, the Panama Canal, the Nile, the Tigris, the Euphrates and the Indus.

Comparing the strategic significance of the Indus River to the Strait of Hormuz, Mr. Zardari asked, if peace can not be achieved between the US and Iran with the Strait of Hormuz shut, then "how can any ceasefire between India and Pakistan hope to endure without the IWT being restored?"