Pakistan has rejected India’s claims about the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT), saying the agreement remains legally binding and cannot be suspended or terminated through unilateral action.
Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United States, Rizwan Saeed Sheikh, made the remarks in an opinion article published in Newsweek. He rejected India’s portrayal of the treaty as an unfair or asymmetric arrangement.
Sheikh said India has increasingly pushed this narrative since its April 2025 announcement to hold the treaty “in abeyance.” He argued that the move has no basis in the treaty or international law.
The ambassador said the Indus Waters Treaty was signed on September 19, 1960, after nearly a decade of World Bank-facilitated negotiations.
He stressed that the agreement was a negotiated international settlement rather than a concession by India to Pakistan.
Sheikh also rejected claims that Pakistan has tried to block India’s hydropower development.
Pakistan has used the dispute-resolution process available under Article IX of the treaty. Sheikh said the agreement gives Pakistan the right to use this process. He rejected claims that this amounts to blocking India’s hydropower projects.
Sheikh said India cannot use treaty provisions that allow hydropower development while ignoring the technical limits and dispute-resolution rules under the same agreement.
He also said the treaty contains no provision allowing either country to unilaterally suspend, terminate or place it in abeyance.
He said Pakistan remains committed to implementing the Indus Waters Treaty in letter and spirit.
The ambassador called on India to reverse its unilateral measures, return to full compliance with its treaty obligations and resolve disputes through the institutional and dispute-resolution mechanisms established under the agreement.
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