Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif warned India in the United Nations General Assembly that any attempt to stop, impede or divert Pakistan’s share of the waters of the Indus River would be treated as an “act of war”.
“Water must never be weaponised. Rivers should nourish nations, not divide them,” Sharif said Friday while addressing the 81st session of the General Assembly in New York.
“Therefore, any attempt to stop, impede or divert Pakistan’s share of the waters will be treated as an act of war. India must make no mistake about it,” he said.
Sharif criticised India’s decision to put the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance, saying it had “no legal basis whatsoever”. India suspended the treaty following the Pahalgam attack in April 2025 and has said it will remain suspended until Pakistan gives up its support for cross-border terrorism.
The treaty regulates the sharing of the Indus river system between the two nuclear-armed neighbours and has been a source of dispute between them for decades.
Sharif also called for “just and fair solution” to Kashmir dispute and referred to 2025 military confrontation between India and Pakistan.
