India's Water Minister C.R. Patil stated that no drop of water will flow to Pakistan in the coming years after India suspended its membership in the 1960 Indus Water Treaty (IWT) last May. He said this is happening under instructions from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and that India is actively ensuring the stoppage [1, 2].

India suspended the treaty following accusations that Pakistan supported a deadly attack on tourists in Indian-controlled Kashmir in April 2025. The attack triggered a four-day India-Pakistan conflict, involving drones, missiles, and artillery and resulting in about 70 deaths on both sides [1, 3, 4, 2, 5, 6, 7, 8].

The IWT governs water use from six rivers originating in India and flowing into Pakistan, providing water to hundreds of millions of people. India controls parts of Kashmir, a disputed territory both countries claim, with a Muslim-majority population [1, 3, 4, 2, 5, 6, 7, 9].

India announced several projects to alter river flows, including a tunnel to divert Chenab River water to the Beas basin, and sediment removal at the Salal Power Station on the Chenab. But experts say current Indian dams can only regulate release timings, not completely block water immediately. Major diversion projects are unlikely to start before mid-2027 and will take at least five years to complete [1, 3, 4, 2, 5, 6, 7, 8].

Pakistan condemned India's actions, warning they threaten peace and could be considered an act of war under international law. Pakistan's Foreign Ministry said any such move would be treated "with utmost seriousness and could possibly amount to an act of war under Article 51 of the UN Charter" [9, 10]. Pakistan insists the 1960 treaty remains valid because there is no mechanism for unilateral withdrawal [1, 3, 4, 2, 9].

Pakistan also accused India of attempting to "weaponize" water resources following the announced projects on the Chenab River [1, 10].

Former diplomat Jieh Wen-Ji commented that India is unlikely to fully block water supply from legal or technical perspectives and described India's announcements as political moves to shift domestic dissatisfaction [11].

India's national hydroelectric power corporation issued a tender in May 2026 for the Chenab tunnel project. Sediment removal work at the Salal Power Station began in January 2026 [1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8]. The earliest expected start for engineering works on major water diversion projects in Kashmir is mid-2027, with at least five years needed for completion [1, 3, 4, 2, 5, 6, 7, 8].