Pakistan's Climate Change Minister Musadik Malik has accused India of seeking to control Pakistan's share of water under the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT), warning that Islamabad would respond firmly to any attempt to deprive it of its allocated waters.
Addressing a press conference on Tuesday, Malik alleged that India was attempting to restrict water flows to Pakistan after New Delhi placed the 1960 treaty in abeyance following the April 2025 Pahalgam terror attack, in which 25 tourists and a local resident were killed.
"There is a tap being controlled by the prime minister of a neighbouring country. He says he will not let even a drop of water flow into Pakistan," Malik said.
He said that 40-50% of Pakistan's population depended on agriculture and argued that restricting water supplies would affect the country's food security, employment and economy.
"Someone else [is trying to] control the entirety of the country's food security, 50 per cent of employment in the country and 25 per cent of the economy," he said.
Malik said Pakistan had already made its position clear on the issue.
"But there is also the question of justice. We will protect ourselves...Not that we've just announced it, but we've proved that if anyone lays a hand over our share of water, we'll cut off that hand," he said.
Malik argued that rivers continued to flow across borders even in the absence of formal agreements.
"Does every upper riparian now have the right to stop the flow of water to the lower riparian? But we even have a treaty. How can the water be stopped here then? This is the case that we will present tomorrow," he said.
"The treaty exists," he asserted, adding that Tuesday's conference was primarily about justice and rights.
"It will be decided what justice is internationally. […] It will be decided whether the children in lower riparian areas across the world have a right to water."
Malik's remarks were reported by several Pakistani media outlets, including Dawn, and video clips of the press conference circulated on social media. However, the authenticity of the videos could not be independently verified.
At the same press conference, Pakistan's Information Minister Attaullah Tarar maintained that the Indus Waters Treaty remained legally binding and could neither be suspended nor amended unilaterally.
"Legally, Pakistan's stance has garnered support internationally, as the IWT cannot be unilaterally revoked, abolished or amended," Tarar was quoted as saying by Dawn.
He added that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Chief of Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir had repeatedly maintained that "water is our lifeline as well as our red line".