Speaking at an Asia Society event, Iqbal said the Indus Waters Treaty was an international agreement that could not be treated as “untouchable”, but claimed that India had unilaterally placed it in abeyance, creating what he described as a new challenge for Pakistan.
“It’s untouchable because it is an international agreement and this time around the Indian government has unilaterally held it in abeyance and that sort of creates a new challenge that first time probably water has been weaponized in modern history and we now face this threat that you know they can use water as a weapon to deny Pakistan water when it needs for its crops and release it when we don’t need it,” he said.
Iqbal said dams being constructed by Pakistan would serve as a buffer against such a situation, while stressing that Islamabad could not allow the issue to go unnoticed.
“So these dams that we are constructing would also be our buffer but I think at the same time we cannot let this go unnoticed. We are using all the diplomatic,” he added.
His remarks came amid renewed tensions between the two nuclear-armed neighbours over the Indus Waters Treaty, with Pakistan repeatedly raising concerns over the impact of India’s decision to suspend the pact.
The issue was also raised by Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on the eve of the country’s Independence Day. Sharif warned India against threatening Pakistan’s water supplies and said Islamabad would give a “direct response” if its access to water was jeopardised.
Speaking at an event, Sharif said Pakistan wanted peace and not war, but cautioned that its desire for peace should not be mistaken for weakness.
“Every drop of water is our red line,” Sharif said, as quoted in a report by the Associated Press. He warned that Pakistan would respond if India threatened its water supplies, adding that any threat to Pakistan’s sovereignty would draw a strong response.
India had decided to keep the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance following the April 22, 2025, Pahalgam terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir, in which 26 people were killed.
The Cabinet Committee on Security met on April 23, a day after the attack, following which India announced that the treaty would remain in abeyance. New Delhi said the circumstances and conditions under which the treaty had been negotiated had fundamentally changed.
India has maintained that the treaty cannot function in its present form and will remain in abeyance until Pakistan “credibly and irrevocably” ends its support for cross-border terrorism.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also defended the decision, saying that “water and blood cannot flow together”. The government has described keeping the treaty in abeyance as part of the measures taken in response to the Pahalgam attack.
A fortnight after the terror attack, India and Pakistan exchanged missile, drone and other strikes before a ceasefire brought an end to the four-day military conflict in May 2025.
India has since maintained its position on the treaty.
“India's position on the Indus Water Treaty is consistent. The IWT stands in abeyance in response to Pakistan's continued sponsorship of cross-border terrorism. Pakistan must credibly and irrevocably abjure its support for cross-border terrorism,” Jaiswal had said.
His clarification came after a Pakistan minister issued a stark warning to India over the treaty, saying Islamabad would “cut off those hands” that he claimed sought to control the Indus water.
The latest remarks from Pakistan’s Planning Minister underline the continuing dispute between the two countries over the Indus Waters Treaty and the wider tensions surrounding Pakistan’s access to water.
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