A top Pakistani Senator has sounded alarm bells over a catastrophic water crisis looming over the country after India suspended the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) in response to the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack, which claimed the lives of 26 innocent Indian civilians.
In a passionate speech during a Senate session on Friday, Senator Syed Ali Zafar warned, “We would die of hunger if we don’t resolve the water crisis now… this is like a water bomb hanging over us and we must defuse it.”
Zafar highlighted the nation’s extreme dependence on the Indus River Basin, noting that three-fourths of Pakistan’s water comes from outside its borders, and 90% of its agriculture relies on these waters, along with critical power projects and dams.
The Indus Waters Treaty, a 1960 World Bank-brokered agreement between India and Pakistan, governs the distribution of six rivers: Indus, Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas, and Sutlej. The treaty had long survived wars and political tensions, but India has now put the agreement into abeyance, invoking national security concerns following Pakistan’s continued support for cross-border terrorism.
India’s Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) endorsed the move shortly after the deadly Pahalgam attack, with the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) reaffirming that “the treaty will remain suspended until Pakistan credibly and irrevocably abjures terrorism.
