'Pakistan has no right to water at the cost of India': Ex-Foreign Secretary slams top Pakistani official's warning over Indus Waters Treaty suspension

Kanwal Sibal, Chancellor of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) and former Foreign Secretary, recently took to social media to condemn a top Pakistani military official's warning regarding the suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT). 

Speaking at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, Pakistan's top military official, General Sahir Shamshad Mirza, gave a direct ultimatum over India's suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty. General Mirza said that any attempt to “halt, divert, or delay Pakistan’s rightful share of water would be considered an act of war.” 

He framed the issue as a "red line" with national security implications. Sibal said in his post on X (formerly Twitter) that Pakistan has been in an intermittent state of war with India, adding: "Terror is an act of war too."

He explained that Pakistan's declaration of the stopping of water as an act of war is a big win for India. "The Pakistani talking of viewing any stopping of water as an act of war shows we have got them where we want them. Pakistan does not have any right to water at the cost of India," Sibal further asserted.

He went on to call the Indus Waters Treaty "a brokered bilateral agreement, not an international one". 

Moreover, the former Indian Ambassador to Russia also took this opportunity to take shots at China. He claimed that Beijing plans to construct the biggest dam in the world on the Brahmaputra.

"Pakistan should ask their lips and teeth ally whether they accept India’s right as a lower riparian or that of any Southeast Asian country. China plans to construct the biggest dam in the world on the Brahmaputra without any consultation with India or Bangladesh," Sibal said. 

Meanwhile, Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif referred to New Delhi's decision to suspend the water-sharing pact as a "weaponisation of water".

As per Pakistani media, Sharif further said at a session of a UN conference in Tajikistan: “India’s unilateral and illegal decision to hold in abeyance the Indus Waters Treaty, which governs the sharing of the Indus Basin’s water, is deeply regrettable."

India was quick to respond to Shehbaz Sharif's remarks on the IWT suspension. Union Minister Kirti Vardhan Singh said Pakistan itself violated the treaty through terrorism. 

"However, the unrelenting cross-border terrorism from Pakistan interferes with an ability to exploit the treaty as per its provisions. Pakistan, which itself is in violation of the treaty, should desist from putting the blame for the breach of the treaty on India," he said.

India suspended the Indus Waters Treaty as part of several punitive measures against Pakistan following the Pahalgam terror attack which claimed the lives of 26 people, including a Nepali citizen.