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Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has warned India not to mistake his country’s commitment to peace for weakness, saying water remains a “red line” amid rising tensions over the sharing of the Indus River system.
Sharif made the remarks as tensions between the two nuclear-armed neighbours continue over the Indus Waters Treaty, a landmark agreement governing the distribution of water from the river system.
Signed in 1960, the treaty allocates around 80 percent of the waters of the Indus river system to Pakistan and the remaining 20 percent to India. Under the agreement, India has control over the eastern rivers—the Ravi, Beas and Sutlej—while Pakistan has rights over most of the waters of the western rivers—the Indus, Jhelum and Chenab. Both countries are allowed limited use of each other’s rivers under specific conditions.
Tensions escalated after the Pahalgam attack in April 2025, in which 26 civilians were killed. India blamed Pakistan-based militants for the attack and subsequently announced that it was placing the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance as part of its punitive measures against Islamabad.
Following the suspension, India stopped sharing advance information with Pakistan on water levels in the three western rivers.
Previously, such data was crucial during the monsoon season, allowing authorities in Pakistan’s Punjab and Sindh provinces to warn and evacuate residents in low-lying areas when river levels rose sharply.
The halt in data sharing has raised concerns in Pakistan over the risk of severe flooding during the monsoon, further intensifying tensions between the two countries.
Sharif’s warning underscores Islamabad’s position that any attempt to restrict or threaten Pakistan’s access to its share of the Indus river waters would cross a critical national red line.