New Delhi: Reacting to the suspension of Indus Waters Treaty with Pakistan in response to the Pahalgam terror attack, BJP MP Nishikant Dubey on Wednesday said the neighbouring country would die without water. “Pakistanis will die without water and this is the 56-inch chest,” Dubey said as he praised Modi government for putting the Indus Waters Treaty, a key water-sharing agreement brokered in 1960, on hold.
“Nehru ji, the hero of the agreement to give water to the snake, who, in order to get the Nobel Prize in 1960, shed the blood of Indians by giving them water of the Indus, Ravi, Beas, Chenab, Sutlej. Today, Modi ji has stopped food and water. Pakistanis will die without water. This is the 56-inch chest. Hookah, water, food and water will be stopped. We are BJP workers. We will kill them after torturing them,” Dubey wrote in Hindi on X.
सॉंप को पानी पिलाने वाले समझौते के नायक नेहरु जी जिन्होंने 1960 में नोबेल पुरस्कार प्राप्त करने के चक्कर में सिंधु,रावी,व्यास,चिनाब,सतलुज का हमारा पानी पिलाकर हिंदुस्तानी का ख़ून बहाया,आज मोदी जी दाना पानी बंद कर दिया ।बिना पानी के पाकिस्तानी मरेंगे यह है 56 इंच का सीना…
— Dr Nishikant Dubey (@nishikant_dubey) April 23, 2025
“Aaj Kal Kalma padhna sikh raha hun…”
The MP also turned sarcastic in another post in response to the attack as he wrote in Hindi that he was learning to utter ‘kalma’ (according to Islamic rules). This is an indirect reference to the accounts given by eye-witnesses who claimed that they were made to read ‘kalma’ to verify their religious identities by the terrorists, who opened fired mostly on Hindus at Pahalgam.
“अशहदु अल्लाह इल्लाह इल्लल्लाहु वह दहु ला शरी-क लहू व अशदुहु अन्न मुहम्मदन अब्दुहु व रसूलुहु ”
आजकल कलमा सीख रहा हूँ,पता नहीं कब जरुरत पड़े— Dr Nishikant Dubey (@nishikant_dubey) April 24, 2025
Impact of Indus Water Treaty Abeyance on Pakistan
Dubey’s claim that Pakistan would die without water turns the spotlight on significance of this crucial treaty.
Pakistan relies on the Indus River and its tributaries (Indus, Jhelum, and Chenab, allocated to Pakistan under the IWT) for approximately 80% of its irrigated agriculture, which contributes 21% to its GDP and supports 45% of its workforce. The suspension could halt the flow of 39 billion cubic meters of water annually from India to Pakistan, threatening water availability for irrigation.
Indus Basin is critical to Pakistan’s economy, with agriculture and related industries forming a significant portion of its GDP. A disruption in water supply could lead to a sharp economic downturn, with ripple effects on trade, employment, and food prices.
Water scarcity could disrupt agro-based industries (e.g., textiles, sugar, and rice milling), which rely on agricultural inputs, potentially reducing exports and worsening Pakistan’s balance of payments.
Pakistan may seek intervention from global bodies like the United Nations or the World Bank (a signatory to the IWT) to challenge India’s unilateral suspension. However, the success of such efforts is uncertain, given India’s strategic influence and the treaty’s provisions allowing suspension under specific conditions (e.g., material breach).
