India Reaffirms Indus Water Treaty Suspension at UN Security Council

India informed Pakistan at a United Nations Security Council high-level debate on natural resources governance that the 1960 Indus Water Treaty will remain suspended as long as Islamabad employs cross-border terrorism as an instrument of state policy. Parvathaneni Harish, India's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, rejected Pakistani claims that the suspension was illegal, asserting that cooperation based on mutual trust is impossible while Pakistan supports terrorism.

The suspension followed an April 22, 2025, terror attack in Pahalgam that killed 24 people. Prime Minister Narendra Modi justified the move by stating that water and blood cannot flow together. India has since placed the treaty in abeyance and accelerated hydropower projects in the Chenab basin, though it continues to provide humanitarian flood warnings to Pakistan.

During the debate, Harish reaffirmed that the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir is an integral and inalienable part of India. He characterized Pakistan's presence in the region as naked aggression and illegal occupation. In response, Pakistan's representative Asim Iftikhar Ahmad argued that India is unilaterally and illegally suspending the treaty amid the ongoing Kashmir dispute. India further accused Pakistan of violently suppressing protests in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, specifically citing an incident in Tararkhal on July 14 where security forces killed six Kashmiris.