- Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif warned India that blocking Indus water share is an act of war
- Sharif said Indus waters are vital for Pakistan and regional stability in South Asia
- He condemned India's suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty as having no legal basis
Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif warned India on Friday that any attempt to stop, impede or divert Pakistan's share of the waters of the Indus river system would be treated as an act of war, addressing the 81st United Nations General Assembly.
"Any attempt to stop, impede or divert Pakistan's share of the waters will be treated as an act of war. India must make no mistake about it," Sharif said.
Sharif told the assembly that the shared waters of the Indus system were "the life blood not only for the people of Pakistan, but for the entire region," and said "another foundation of stability in South Asia is now under strain."
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#WATCH | New York | Addressing the 81st United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif says, "...Any attempt to stop, impede, or divert Pakistan's share of the waters will be treated as an act of war. India must make no mistake about it"
— ANI (@ANI) September 26, 2026
(Video Source: United… pic.twitter.com/l7dIO7SxnH
He said India's unilateral decision to hold the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance "has no legal basis whatsoever," asserting that both India's claims and its actions had been rejected by UN experts and, more recently, by the Court of Arbitration.
"Our legitimate stand that the treaty remains valid, binding and fully operative has been vindicated beyond any ray of doubt," he said.
Calling for water not to be used as a tool of coercion, Sharif said: "Water must never be weaponised. Rivers should nourish nations, not divide them."
The Indus Waters Treaty, brokered by the World Bank in 1960, governs the sharing of the Indus river system's waters between India and Pakistan.
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India had placed the treaty in abeyance earlier this year, a move Islamabad has consistently contested at international forums, including before UN-appointed experts and the Court of Arbitration at The Hague.
India's Cabinet Committee on Security, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, decided to suspend the Indus Waters Treaty a day after gunmen killed 26 people, mostly tourists, in an attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, on April 22, 2025.
Sharif's remarks come amid heightened India-Pakistan tensions, with water-sharing emerging as a fresh flashpoint alongside longstanding disputes between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.
There was no immediate response from New Delhi to Sharif's remarks.
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