Climate Change Minister Musadik Malik addresses the Fourth High-Level International Conference on Water for Sustainable Development in Dushanbe on Tuesday. SCREENSHOT
Climate Change Minister Musadik Malik warned on Tuesday that India’s decision to suspend the Indus Waters Treaty could set a dangerous precedent for downstream countries around the world, warning that the militarization of water threatened the foundations of global treaty systems and multilateralism.
Addressing the fourth high-level international conference on the International Decade of Action ‘Water for Sustainable Development’ in Tajikistan’s capital Dushanbe, Malik accused India of politicizing shared water resources and said climate change should lead to more cooperation, transparency and compliance with international agreements – not unilateral actions.
“There was no legal provision in the treaty to take unilateral action, and yet this treaty was put on hold,” Malik said. “It was not put on hold because it was legally flawed. It was put on hold, or so it is suggested, because it did not serve the policy of any country.”
Read: Pakistan wins Hague ruling in IWT dispute
He warned that such actions could undermine the water rights of inferior riparian states globally.
“After this, no downstream country in the world will have water rights,” he said. “Mark my words: once this precedent is established, no downstream country in the world would have water rights. »
The minister said the issue was not just about Pakistan but also the future of international treaties and governance of transboundary waters.
“If this treaty does not hold, then all the treaties in the world are not worth the weight of the paper they are printed on,” he said.
Last year, India suspended the Indus Waters Treaty following the April 22 attack in India’s Pahalgam region of Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), in which 26 people were killed by unidentified attackers.
Malik said climate change required “more compliance, not less,” as well as increased transparency, data sharing and early warning systems.
“Climate change means all of these things, it should not be used as an excuse to unilaterally suspend or reinterpret or circumvent a legally binding treaty,” he added.
Referring to a recent ruling by an arbitration tribunal, Malik said the judgment had clarified limits on water retention and hydropower design for upstream countries, but lamented the absence of binding enforcement mechanisms.
“Rules-based regimes are collapsing,” he said. “Multilateralism is weakening and new doctrines of unilateralism are emerging. »
Also read: FM Dar urges UN Security Council president to pressure India to restore Indus Waters Treaty
“I can tell you that even water is weaponized,” he added.
Calling for stronger international mechanisms, the minister urged the conference to work towards binding global conventions on transboundary water management and mandatory third-party dispute resolution mechanisms between upstream and downstream countries.
“Pakistan would like to appeal to this conference to come up with binding international agreements on transboundary waters,” he said. “Pakistan would like to seek political, economic and diplomatic consequences for violators. »
The minister also highlighted the human cost of climate change and water insecurity, saying vulnerable communities were paying the price of global inaction.
“The woman who wakes up at dawn and walks four hours for a bucket of water is not looking forward to the conference outcome framework,” he said. “The dead or dying child does not request another voluntary commitment. »
Malik called for stronger legal and institutional mechanisms to protect water rights, saying the world needs enforceable laws, institutions with the courage to implement them, and leadership that recognizes access to water as a fundamental right requiring justice and accountability.
Speaking about Pakistan’s climate vulnerability, Malik said the country contributes less than 1% of global greenhouse gas emissions, but continues to suffer from devastating floods, droughts and melting glaciers.
“We are not responsible for this. Why are we paying for this?” he asked.
Malik said recurring cycles of floods and droughts were pushing farming communities back into poverty and damaging farmland.
“These are not tragedies,” he said. “These are the consequences of the decisions that people like us make at these conferences. »
Read also: Zardari urges India to fully restore CIES, warns against ‘weaponization’ of water
Calling water scarcity a growing global crisis, the minister said nearly two billion people lacked clean drinking water, while billions more faced seasonal water shortages.
“This water failure that we are talking about is not a water failure; it’s a food security issue,” he said. “People will face hunger. »
Malik argued that the policy architecture surrounding water resources disproportionately disadvantaged downstream countries.
“Water flows downhill, but electricity doesn’t,” he said. “Country after country, basin after basin, downstream countries have less political power, less influence and less economic power. »
He concluded by urging world leaders to go beyond declarations and voluntary commitments.
“We shouldn’t talk about how we think and what we think,” he said. “We should talk about what we’re going to do.”
The 1960 IWT is one of the most carefully negotiated and legally sound transboundary water agreements in modern international law. Concluded between Pakistan and India with the good offices of the World Bank, the treaty aimed to steer water away from the volatility of politics and conflict and firmly anchor it in law, technical discipline and neutral dispute resolution. It is a binding international instrument governed by the fundamental principle pacta sunt servanda – that treaties must be honored in good faith.
Read: Pakistan accuses India of violating Indus Waters Treaty
At the heart of inland navigation is a permanent and unreserved allocation of rivers. Article II gives Pakistan exclusive rights to the eastern rivers – Ravi, Beas and Sutlej – exclusively to India, while Article III gives Pakistan exclusive rights to the western rivers – Indus, Jhelum and Chenab. This distribution was the founding agreement of the treaty.
India’s access to the western rivers is permitted only within the narrow confines of Article III(2) of the Indus Waters Treaty, read with Annexes D and E, allowing limited, non-consumptive uses such as run-of-river hydroelectric projects. These authorizations are subject to strict design and operational constraints, including limits on ponds, a ban on storage to regulate flows, and a ban on engineering features to control water flows to Pakistan.
These safeguards were aimed at protecting Pakistan as a lower riparian and preventing water from becoming a strategic tool. Pakistan’s objections to projects such as Kishanganga and Ratle stem from concerns over excessive ponding, gated spillways and drawdown mechanisms, which it says violate treaty provisions and could affect downstream flows, particularly during lean seasons.
The dispute entered a more troubling phase in April 2025, when, following a terrorist incident in Pahalgam, India announced that it was putting the Indus Waters Treaty “on hold”.
Read more: India ignores IWT case proceedings in The Hague
Earlier this year, India unilaterally approved the Dulhasti Phase II hydropower project on the Chenab River, an action that violates treaty provisions governing the Western Rivers and undermines Pakistan’s legally protected rights under the binding international agreement.
The unilateral suspension and fast-track approval of upstream projects, including the withholding of hydrological data, diversion of river flows and modification of natural regimes, constitutes a deliberate weaponization of water, jeopardizing Pakistan’s agriculture, food security, hydropower production and ecological stability. Under the IWT, customary international law and Article 51 of the UN Charter, Pakistan has clear legal avenues to respond.
International law expressly prohibits the use of water as a weapon against downstream populations, making strict enforcement of the IWT essential not only for bilateral stability but also for the integrity of global water governance norms.
