Permanent Mission of India
New York
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Arria Formula Meeting: Protecting Water in Armed Conflict –

Protecting Civilian Lives

Statement by Ambassador Parvathaneni Harish, Permanent Representative

23 May 2025

Mr. President,

• We are constrained to respond to the disinformation being carried out by the delegation of Pakistan with regard to Indus Water Treaty.

• India has always acted in a responsible manner as an upper riparian state.

• I would like to highlight four aspects to expose the disinformation of Pakistan.

• FIRST, India had entered into the Indus Water Treaty, 65 years ago, in good faith. The Preamble of the Treaty describes that the Treaty was concluded ‘in a spirit of good will and friendship’.

• Throughout these six and a half decades, Pakistan has violated the spirit of the treaty by inflicting three wars and thousands of terror attacks on India. In the last four decades, more than 20,000 Indian lives have been lost in terror attacks, the most recent of which was the dastardly targeted terror attack on tourists in Pahalgam last month.

• India has shown extraordinary patience and magnanimity throughout this period.

• Pakistan state-sponsored cross border terrorism in India seeks to hold hostage the lives of civilians, religious harmony and economic prosperity.

• SECOND, in these 65 years, far-reaching fundamental changes have taken place not only in terms of escalating security concerns through cross-border terror attacks, but also growing requirements for producing clean energy, climate change and demographic change. Technology for dam infrastructure has also transformed to ensure safety and efficiency of operations and water use. Some of the old dams are facing serious safety concerns.

• However, Pakistan has continued to consistently block any changes to this infrastructure, and any modifications of the provisions, which is permissible under the Treaty.

• In fact, in 2012 terrorists even attacked the Tulbul Navigation Project in Jammu and Kashmir.

• These cynical acts continue to endanger safety of our projects and lives of civilians.

• THIRD, India has formally asked Pakistan to discuss the modifications of the Treaty on several occasions in the past 2 years.

• However, Pakistan continues to reject these. Pakistan’s obstructionist approach continues to prevent the exercise of full utilisation of legitimate rights by India.

• FOUR, it is against this backdrop that India has finally announced that the Treaty will be in abeyance until Pakistan, which is a global epicenter of terror, credibly and irrevocably ends its support for cross-border terrorism.

• It is clear that it is Pakistan which remains in violation of the Indus Water Treaty.

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