{"id":35355,"date":"2025-04-25T16:08:58","date_gmt":"2025-04-25T10:23:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/prahaar.com.np\/?p=35355"},"modified":"2025-04-25T16:08:59","modified_gmt":"2025-04-25T10:23:59","slug":"india-threatens-pakistans-lifeline-can-it-really-cut-off-water-to-pakistan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/prahaar.com.np\/?p=35355","title":{"rendered":"India Threatens Pakistan\u2019s Lifeline: Can It Really Cut Off Water to Pakistan?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

April,25,2025<\/strong>
In a bold and unprecedented move, India has suspended the decades-old Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) with Pakistan \u2014 a decision that\u2019s sparking serious questions across the region: Can India really stop river water from flowing into Pakistan?
The announcement came in the wake of a deadly militant attack in Indian-administered Kashmir, which New Delhi claims was supported by Pakistan-based groups \u2014 an accusation Islamabad strongly denies. India has since taken several retaliatory steps, and suspending the IWT is among the most significant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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What Is the Indus Waters Treaty?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Signed in 1960 and brokered by the World Bank, the IWT is considered one of the world\u2019s most successful water-sharing agreements, having withstood wars and long-standing political tensions. It divides the six rivers of the Indus basin between the two neighbors.
India was granted control over the three eastern rivers \u2014 Ravi, Beas, and Sutlej \u2014 while Pakistan received the three western ones \u2014 Indus, Jhelum, and Chenab \u2014 which together supply about 80% of Pakistan\u2019s water for agriculture and hydropower.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What Does the Suspension Mean?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

While the treaty has been under strain before, this is the first time either country has formally stepped away from it. As the upstream nation, India holds a geographic advantage \u2014 but experts say halting water flow is far more complicated than it sounds.
Most of India\u2019s water infrastructure on the western rivers is based on run-of-the-river<\/em> hydropower technology, which generates electricity using flowing water but doesn\u2019t involve large-scale storage. That means India currently lacks the massive reservoirs or canal networks required to divert or block the huge volumes of water that flow into Pakistan \u2014 especially during the monsoon season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, Can India Stop the Flow?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Not entirely \u2014 at least not for now.
Experts agree that India doesn’t have the capacity to stop tens of billions of cubic metres of water from reaching Pakistan, especially during high-flow seasons. However, the real concern is what happens during the dry months, when every drop of water becomes crucial.
By suspending the treaty, India is no longer required to share plans or data with Pakistan for new water projects. This opens the door for India to build or modify dams and reservoirs to store more water during dry seasons \u2014 potentially reducing flow into Pakistan just when it’s needed most.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Impact on Pakistan<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Pakistan has warned that cutting off river water would be seen as an \u201cact of war.\u201d The country\u2019s economy and food security are heavily reliant on the Indus basin, with over 80% of its agricultural activity depending on these rivers.
There are also growing concerns about flood forecasting. The treaty requires India to share hydrological data \u2014 especially during the flood-prone monsoon season. Without this, Pakistan may be left in the dark during emergencies. However, Pakistani officials claim that even before the suspension, India was sharing limited data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Could India \u201cWeaponize\u201d Water?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The idea of \u201cweaponizing\u201d water \u2014 using it as a strategic tool or even a threat \u2014 isn\u2019t new. Some worry that India could release water suddenly to flood downstream areas or flush silt without warning, causing damage to Pakistan\u2019s irrigation systems.
But most experts caution that such tactics could also backfire, flooding India\u2019s own territories since most Indian dams aren\u2019t located close to the border.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Bigger Regional Puzzle<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The issue of water politics doesn\u2019t end at India and Pakistan. The Indus originates in Tibet, and India itself is downstream of China on the Brahmaputra River. After a similar militant attack in 2016, China had briefly blocked a tributary of the Brahmaputra, raising strategic alarms in Delhi.
China is now building what could be the world\u2019s largest dam on the Yarlung Tsangpo (which becomes the Brahmaputra in India), giving it potential control over water flows that India depends on \u2014 making India\u2019s own position as a downstream country precarious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Final Thoughts<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

India\u2019s suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty is a major turning point in South Asia\u2019s water diplomacy. While India may not be able to cut off water flows to Pakistan entirely, its decisions could still have significant impacts, especially during dry seasons.
This crisis highlights just how vital \u2014 and vulnerable \u2014 water resources are in this already fragile region. As political tensions rise, millions of lives that depend on these rivers hang in the balance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

April,25,2025In a bold and unprecedented move, India has suspended the decades-old Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) with Pakistan \u2014 a decision that\u2019s sparking serious questions across the region: Can India really stop river water from flowing into Pakistan?The announcement came in the wake of a deadly militant attack in Indian-administered Kashmir, which New Delhi claims was …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":35358,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39,37,44],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35355","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-headline","category-news","category-english"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/prahaar.com.np\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35355","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/prahaar.com.np\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/prahaar.com.np\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prahaar.com.np\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prahaar.com.np\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=35355"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/prahaar.com.np\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35355\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35359,"href":"https:\/\/prahaar.com.np\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35355\/revisions\/35359"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prahaar.com.np\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/35358"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/prahaar.com.np\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=35355"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prahaar.com.np\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=35355"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prahaar.com.np\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=35355"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}