Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar on Friday warned that the implications of “unilateral interference” with the Indus Waters Treaty are “consequently profound”.
The DPM made the remarks while delivering a keynote address at a seminar titled “The Indus Waters Treaty: South Asian Security at the Crossroads”, organised by the Embassy of Pakistan in Washington.
The Indus Basin is the lifeline of more than 250 million Pakistanis, he said, adding that their agriculture, food security, energy production, livelihoods and economic development are deeply dependent upon the waters of the Indus River system.
The DPM said that water security for Pakistan is therefore inseparable from economic security, food security and, ultimately, national security.
“The implications of unilateral interference with such an arrangement are consequently profound,” he warned.
The DPM said: “They affect not only the stability of South Asia but create a dangerous precedent for treaty relations everywhere.”
Pakistan’s position is clear and consistent: the Indus Waters Treaty remains valid, binding and fully operative despite India’s assertion of “abeyance”, Dar added.
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