'Could create a crisis': Pakistan urges India to reconsider Indus Waters Treaty pause

Pakistan has formally urged India to reconsider its decision to suspend the Indus Waters Treaty, sources told India Today on Wednesday. The appeal comes weeks after India paused the treaty following the Pahalgam terror attack, which left 26 civilians dead.

According to sources, Pakistan’s Ministry of Water Resources has written to India’s Ministry of External Affairs, warning that New Delhi’s move to halt the treaty could create a crisis in Pakistan.

India’s decision to put the treaty in abeyance was announced after the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) reviewed Islamabad’s continued support for terrorism. “The Indus Waters Treaty was concluded in the spirit of goodwill and friendship as specified in the preamble of the treaty. However, Pakistan has held these principles in abeyance by its promotion of cross-border terrorism for decades,” MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said at a briefing.

The 1960 treaty, brokered by the World Bank, allocated control over the three eastern rivers to India and the three western rivers to Pakistan, ensuring continued cooperation even during heightened tensions. However, this is the first time India has suspended it entirely.

The diplomatic stand-off comes in the aftermath of Operation Sindoor, India’s precision military campaign that followed the April 22 massacre of tourists in Jammu and Kashmir. The attack was carried out by terrorists backed by Pakistan-based groups.

In his first televised address following Operation Sindoor, Prime Minister Narendra Modi reaffirmed the government’s position on the Indus treaty. “Terror and talks cannot happen at the same time. Terror and trade cannot happen simultaneously. Water and blood cannot flow together,” he said.

India has made it clear that the only acceptable subject of dialogue with Pakistan would be terrorism and the return of Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (PoK). The message to Islamabad, reinforced by both diplomatic and military measures, signals a hardened posture that links peace overtures directly with a cessation of cross-border terrorism.