Following the deadly terror attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, on April 22, 2025, which claimed 26 lives including civilians and one foreign national, India has taken a series of unprecedented punitive diplomatic and strategic measures against Pakistan.

The Indian Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS), chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, decided to suspend the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) of 1960, a landmark water-sharing agreement brokered by the World Bank that has governed the use of six rivers in the Indus basin between the two countries for 64 years.

This suspension effectively halts all treaty-related cooperation, including technical meetings, data sharing, and notifications of water flows. India declared the treaty would remain suspended until Pakistan "credibly and irrevocably" ceases its support for cross-border terrorism.

Alongside this, India downgraded diplomatic ties with Pakistan, expelled three Pakistani military attaches, curtailed the Pakistani mission's size, and closed the integrated check post at the Attari border, signalling a major shift in India's strategic posture toward Pakistan.

The Indus Waters Treaty had allocated the eastern rivers (Ravi, Beas, Sutlej) exclusively to India and the western rivers (Indus, Jhelum, Chenab) primarily to Pakistan.

Pakistan depends heavily on the Indus basin for irrigation, with nearly 90% of its agriculture reliant on this water system. The suspension of the treaty threatens Pakistan's water, food, and energy security by potentially disrupting water flows from these western rivers, which could exacerbate water scarcity and agricultural distress in Pakistan's Punjab and Sindh provinces.

In response to India's suspension of the treaty and diplomatic downgrades, Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has convened a meeting of the National Security Committee on April 24, 2025. This high-level meeting will include Pakistan's top civilian and military leadership, including service chiefs and key cabinet ministers, to formulate an appropriate response to India's actions.

Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs is also considering reciprocal diplomatic measures such as expelling Indian defence, air, and naval attachés and possibly recalling Indian High Commission staff from Islamabad. These consultations reflect Pakistan's intent to respond firmly to what it terms India's "diplomatic aggression" following the Pahalgam terror attack.

This series of events marks a significant escalation in India-Pakistan relations, where a long-standing symbol of cooperation—the Indus Waters Treaty—is now being used as a strategic lever in the context of cross-border terrorism allegations.

The developments underscore the fragile and volatile nature of bilateral ties and the potential for further diplomatic and security tensions in the region.

Agencies