Dar warns that India’s water projects aim to establish ‘hydrohegemony’

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar warned on Thursday that India was pursuing what he described as a “hydrohegemony” strategy, saying at least 17 projects, including dam and river diversion plans, were designed to drastically alter the Indus River system.

In April last year, following a deadly attack on tourists in Indian-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), India unilaterally suspended the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) after accusing Pakistan of backing the attackers, a charge Islamabad categorically denied. Since then, the treaty has remained at the center of renewed tensions between the two neighbors over the sharing of cross-border water resources.

Addressing the Brussels Conference on “Transboundary water resources: an armed global common good”Dar said India’s actions went beyond rhetoric and posed a challenge to the IWT framework.

“It is important to emphasize that our concerns are not simply based on Indian statements,” he said.

“India has followed up its belligerent statements with illegal actions; these include projects to create reservoirs like Sawalkot, Kirthai, Kwar, etc.; expansion of existing structures like Baglihar and Salal; and, most alarmingly, diversion projects on the Indus, Chenab and Ravi rivers.

“In total, at least 17 such projects will dramatically alter the river system as a whole, giving India the tools for the ‘hydrohegemony’ it so desires,” he added.

Read: ‘Not a single drop of water will flow into Pakistan’: Indian minister threatens to block water supply

The deputy prime minister said the conference was timely as it brought together experts to discuss climate change, water resources management and the political dimensions of transboundary water governance.

“Shared resources require cooperative management through agreed frameworks, otherwise competing interests can turn them into sources of conflict and weaponization, as increasingly seen today,” he said, adding that peaceful coexistence depended on respect for multilateral treaties, agreements and frameworks.

Referring to the Indus Waters Treaty signed between Pakistan and India in 1960, Dar said Pakistan had consistently upheld the principles of the UN Charter and remained committed to resolving disputes through the legal framework of the treaty.

“The treaty provides for the peaceful resolution of disputes within its own framework,” he said, noting that it had survived three major conflicts and several other challenges over decades.

FM Dar said Pakistan had previously expressed concerns over certain actions by India under the treaty but had always sought available legal mechanisms.

“We sought a solution through international mechanisms and respected decisions even when they did not meet our expectations,” he said.

Criticizing India’s unilateral suspension of the treaty, Dar said abandoning established legal frameworks could not be considered a responsible course of action.

“Responsible states act within established legal frameworks rather than abandoning them,” he said.

“And yet today we face precisely that challenge.”

The foreign minister said rivers are not simply waterways, but lifelines with historical, cultural and economic importance.

“Our eastern neighbor’s stated policy of intentionally depriving 240 million people of their legitimate access to water represents a catastrophe in the making, of unparalleled magnitude.”

Read also: Foreign Minister Dar urges UN Security Council president to pressure India to restore Indus Waters Treaty

He stressed that water should never be used as a means of coercion.

“It is a shared resource, a common responsibility and ultimately a prerequisite for human dignity and sustainable development. Therefore, the future of transboundary water governance must be anchored in cooperation and respect for international law.”

Dar said the issue should not be viewed solely through the lens of South Asia, arguing that respect for treaties forms the basis of international order.

“The sanctity of treaties is the basis of international order,” he said.

Reiterating Pakistan’s position, the Foreign Minister said the country remained committed to resolving disputes peacefully.

“Pakistan remains committed to resolving all issues through dialogue, diplomacy and mechanisms under international law,” he said.

“Our position is not guided by confrontation, but by the conviction that lasting solutions can only emerge through cooperation and respect for mutually agreed obligations.”

Linking the issue with climate change, Dar said Pakistan was facing the water challenge at a time when it was among the most climate-vulnerable countries in the world, despite contributing less than one per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions.

Read more: Dar accuses India of violating IWT as Chenab levels fall

“This is a moment that demands greater international cooperation and collaboration on water issues,” he said.

Dar urged participants to draw lessons from the Indus Waters Treaty while examining experiences from other regions.

“Let us reaffirm today that shared waters must unite nations rather than divide them, and that cooperation, not coercion, must remain the guiding principle of transboundary water governance,” he concluded.

The IWT and why it is important

The 1960 IWT stands as one of the most carefully negotiated and legally sound transboundary water agreements in modern international law. The treaty, concluded between Pakistan and India with the good offices of the World Bank, was designed to remove the water from the volatility of politics and conflict and anchor it firmly in law, engineering discipline and neutral dispute resolution. It is a binding international instrument governed by the fundamental principle of pacta sunt servanda: that treaties must be respected in good faith.

Read: Pakistan accuses India of violating the Indus Waters Treaty

At the heart of the IWT is a permanent and unconditional allocation of rivers. Article II grants the eastern rivers (Ravi, Beas and Sutlej) exclusively to India, while Article III grants Pakistan exclusive rights over the western rivers: Indus, Jhelum and Chenab. This assignment was the founding agreement of the treaty.

India’s access to the western rivers is permitted only within the narrow limits of Article III(2) of the Indus Waters Treaty, read together with Annexes D and E, which allows limited, non-consumptive uses such as run-of-the-river hydroelectric projects. These permits are subject to strict design and operational restrictions, including watertight limits, prohibition of storage to regulate flow, and prohibition of engineering elements that control water flows into Pakistan.

These safeguards were aimed at protecting Pakistan as a lower riparian and preventing water from becoming a strategic tool. Pakistan’s objections to projects such as Kishanganga and Ratle arise from concerns about excessive ponding, closed spillways and drawdown mechanisms, which it claims violate treaty provisions and could affect downstream flows, particularly during lean seasons.

The dispute entered a more worrying phase in April 2025, when, following a terrorist incident in Pahalgam, India announced that it would leave the Indus Waters Treaty “on hold”.

Read more: India skips IWT case procedure in The Hague

Earlier this year, India unilaterally approved the Dulhasti Stage II Hydroelectric Project on the Chenab River, a move that violates treaty provisions governing western rivers and infringes on Pakistan’s legally protected rights under the binding international agreement.

The unilateral suspension and accelerated approval of upstream projects, including withholding hydrological data, diverting river flows and altering natural regimes, constitutes a deliberate weaponization of water, endangering Pakistan’s agriculture, food security, hydropower generation and ecological stability. Under the IWT, customary international law and Article 51 of the United Nations Charter, Pakistan has clear legal avenues to respond.

International law expressly prohibits the use of water as a weapon against downstream populations, making strict implementation of the IWT essential not only for bilateral stability but also for the integrity of global water governance norms.