Pakistan’s threats against India on IWT suspension is pure blackmail
Arun Joshi
- Posted: July 04, 2026
- Updated: 04:34 PM
Pakistan’s desperation in highlighting the suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty is understandable, but what is beyond comprehension is its failure to reflect on why it is confronted with this situation. It, as usual, is talking of what has happened without identifying the root cause : its continuing support for cross-border terrorism against India. It is making a bid to hide its skeletons – internal troubles .
The fact remains that it has neither looked at its own horrible acts of terror – the Pahalgam and Delhi blasts , and many others –nor does it regret its blood-spilling campaign on Indian soil.
That , in itself, is a dangerous situation. But Pakistan has not learnt any lessons. It was obvious the way Pakistani leadership and its intellectuals condemned India in abusive terms on this issue. Worse still, they held out severe threats to India , from destroying its power projects to nuclear war. This was done in the name of saving humanity,. They argued that the stoppage of water by India could kill more than 250 million Pakistanis. It equated the proposed complete stoppage of waters to the country with an act of “genocide.” That was the basis for its threats against India, and these cannot be dismissed as mere bluster.
There is a whole international plot working behind it . It wouldn’t be surprising if both China and America are working behind the scenes to make Pakistan say what it is saying . The whole campaign was evident at an international seminar organized in Islamabad , titled,” Indus Waters Treaty : An Instrument of Regional Peace and Security,” on Tuesday, June 30, 2026.
The Pakistani leadership, in one voice, not only condemned India for suspending the Indus waters Treaty , but they also made it a point to hurl extreme threats at India.
These threats against India and complimentary notes for the US and China made it clear that Pakistan was trying to bring pressure on India . Islamabad was attempting to use its newly gained status of acting as a mediator in the talks between the US and Iran to end conflict in Middle East . The conflict had started with American and Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28, 2026. Pakistan believes that it can bring international pressure on India to force it to make concessions not only on the water issue , but also in the overall - what it calls - “ resolution of long-pending Kashmir issue.”
The most strident voices heard at the seminar were from Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, PPP Chairperson and former Foreign Minister Bilawal Zardari Bhutto and former minister of state for foreign affairs Hina Rabbani Khar and all others. The Seminar was attended by diplomats and the representatives of the United Nations . All of them hurled specific threats at India while accusing it of committing all sorts of human rights violations .
Until few days ago, they were calling Pahalgam terror attack as an “ incident,”, now they have started saying that it was just a pretext for doing what India did – suspending the IWT- while it was alr4ady violating provisions of the treaty , squeezing Pakistan and its population. Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry has declared that the country” reserves right to take any action against India ,” for what it called, “ violation of the treaty..” This was an echo of what all the speakers at seminar said with regard to India.
The Deputy Prime Minister was quite explicit in holding out threats to India. He said: “ Any attempt to deprive Pakistan of its rights under the treaty would have profound consequences for regional peace and security, undermining the shared interests of nearly two billion people of South Asia.”
Hina Rabbani Khar was noticeably shriller . She went on to say that India , by keeping the treaty in abeyance, has violated the terms of settlement of disputes as provided for in the treaty .She not only wanted the treaty to be restored to its original status , regardless of the time passed since its signing in 1960 , but also exhorted for a global campaign against India’s bid to enter the United Nations Security Council ( UNSC) as its permanent member .
She also spoke of the provisions of the treaty that provide for the settlement of disputes between India and Pakistan as contained in Article 12 of the pact. The Article 12 reads:
This Treaty shall be ratified and the ratifications thereof shall be exchanged in New Delhi. It shall enter into force upon the exchange, of ratifications, and will then take effect retrospectively from the first of April 1960.
The provisions of this Treaty may from time to time be modified by a duly ratified treaty concluded for that purpose between the two Governments.
The provisions of this Treaty, or, the provisions of this Treaty as modified under the provisions of Paragraph (3)- “ Pakistan shall receive for unrestricted use all those waters of the Western Rivers which India is under obligation to let flow- shall continue in force until terminated by a duly ratified treaty concluded for that purpose between the two Governments.
But what she did not mention that there is no provision of the disputes, if any, to be taken to the International Court of Justice . Pakistan did that and violated the very spirit of the treaty . That is why India did not accept ICJ and its Court of Arbitration’s jurisdiction . Moreover, terrorism doesn’t give license to Pakistan to have its full control over the treaty.
Pakistan is using its diplomatic opportunity that it availed owing to the US-Iran conflict to push forward its arguments against India with regard to the suspension of the IWT.. Ishaq Dar did mention that how his country , once described as hub of terror , has transformed into a peacemaker and made the two countries- the US and Iran- to shake hands after 47 years of hostility .
Today, Pakistan is not threatening only India, but by threatening of use of nuclear weapons, to escalating the situation and taking war into the Indian territory, it is trying to invite the global attention and intervention in settling its case vis-à-vis IWT with India. / DAILY WORLD /