'The moment we … ' : Pakistan defence minister issues war threat to India over Indus Water Treaty

Pakistan defence minister Khawaja Asif has issued a warning to India, saying Islamabad could resort to military action if its water security comes under threat. His remarks come as Pakistan grapples with a worsening water crisis, more than a year after New Delhi suspended the long-standing Indus Waters Treaty in the aftermath of Pakistan-sponsored Pahalgam terror attack.Speaking in an interview with ARY News, Asif declared that “the moment we feel that our national security, and water is part of our national security, is being threatened, we will go to war against India. Definitely.”He added that war would be considered if material evidence emerged that India was moving at an “alarming speed” towards disrupting water supplies. His comments followed a clip of Jal Shakti minister CR Patil claiming that the flow of Indus water to Pakistan could be stopped completely by June 2028.

Tensions over Indus Waters Treaty

Tensions between two-nuclear armed neighbours escalated after a deadly attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam that killed 26 people. India, in response, suspended the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty, a decision that will remain in effect until Pakistan stops funding cross-border terrorism.Under the treaty brokered by the World Bank, Pakistan is allocated roughly 80 per cent of the Indus water basin, which sustains up to 80 per cent of the country’s agricultural land.Asif accused India of weaponising water, manipulating the flows of the Chenab River, and withholding vital hydrological data. He noted that Pakistan had historically monitored Indian projects under the treaty through physical inspections, claiming Pakistani teams had conducted around 115 inspections. Yet he admitted he did not have the latest information on developments over the past year.

Pakistan’s internal water crisis

The warning comes against the backdrop of a crippling water shortage affecting nearly one-third of Pakistan’s population, particularly in Sindh and Balochistan. Data from Sindh’s irrigation department shows the North West Canal facing a 64.1 per cent deficit, while the Rice Canal and Dadu Canal report shortfalls of 38 per cent and 82 per cent respectively.Sindh officials accuse upstream Punjab of illegally drawing 53,394 cusecs of water against its sanctioned allocation of 44,000 cusecs, an excess of more than 21 per cent.With downstream flows plummeting, local leaders have warned of an impending “economic massacre” as disputes intensify across provincial borders.