New York: It was Pakistan that violated the spirit of the Indus Waters Treaty by inflicting three wars and thousands of terror attacks on India, seeking to hold hostage the lives of civilians, religious harmony and economic prosperity, India told the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on Friday.
“We are constrained to respond to the disinformation being carried out by the delegation of Pakistan with regard to the Indus Waters Treaty. India has always acted in a responsible manner as an upper riparian state,” India’s Permanent Representative to UN Ambassador Parvathaneni Harish said in his address at the UNSC Arria Formula meeting organised by the Permanent Mission of Slovenia on ‘Protecting Water in Armed Conflict – Protecting Civilian Lives.’
India has decided to suspend the Indus Waters Treaty after the Pahalgam terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir on April 22 that left 26 persons dead. India has said that the 1960 Treaty would be held in abeyance with immediate until Pakistan credibly and irrevocably abjures its support for cross-border terrorism.
Harish told the UN meeting that India had entered into the Indus Waters Treaty in 1960 in good faith. Pointing to the Preamble of the Treaty that describes how it was concluded “in a spirit of good will and friendship”, Harish said throughout these six-and-a-half decades, Pakistan has violated that spirit.
In the last four decades, more than 20,000 Indian lives have been lost in terror attacks, the most recent of which was the dastardly targeted terror attack on tourists in Pahalgam, he said.
Harish referred to how India had formally asked Pakistan to discuss the modifications of the Treaty on several occasions in the past two years but Islamabad rejected them.
“Pakistan’s obstructionist approach continues to prevent the exercise of full utilisation of legitimate rights by India,” he said.
Further, Harish said that in the past 65 years, far-reaching fundamental changes have taken place not only in terms of escalating security concerns through cross-border terror attacks but also growing requirements for producing clean energy, climate change and demographic change.
“Technology for dam infrastructure has transformed to ensure the safety and efficiency of operations and water use. Some of the old dams are facing serious safety concerns,” he said adding that Pakistan has continued to “consistently block” any changes to this infrastructure, and any modifications of the provisions, which is permissible under the Treaty.
He noted that in 2012, terrorists even attacked the Tulbul Navigation Project in Jammu and Kashmir.
“These cynical acts continue to endanger the safety of our projects and the lives of civilians.
“It is against this backdrop that India has finally announced that the Treaty will be in abeyance until Pakistan, which is a global epicentre of terror, credibly and irrevocably ends its support for cross-border terrorism. It is clear that it is Pakistan which remains in violation of the Indus Waters Treaty.”
Earlier in the day, Harish delivered a strong response to Pakistan at a UNSC open debate on “Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict”, calling out Pakistan’s “grossly hypocritical” behaviour and asserting that a nation that makes no distinction between terrorists and civilians has no credentials to speak about protecting civilians.
After Pakistan’s Ambassador at the UN Asim Iftikhar Ahmad raked the Kashmir issue and spoke about the recent conflict between the two nuclear-armed countries, Harish slammed Pakistan’s baseless allegations and said India experienced decades of Pakistani-sponsored terrorist attacks across its borders.
“This has ranged from the horrific 26/11 attack on the city of Mumbai to the barbaric mass murder of innocent tourists in Pahalgam in April 2025. The victims of Pakistani terrorism have been predominantly civilians since its objective has been to attack our prosperity, progress and morale. For such a nation to even participate in a discussion on the protection of civilians is an affront to the international community,” Harish said.
