‘Indus Water Treaty outdated’: India to Pakistan at UN
Here's one for your international relations notes. India, exercising its right of reply at the UN, called the Indus Waters Treaty outdated and called Pakistan a Frankenstein state, while rejecting OIC references to Jammu and Kashmir. So basically, India reaffirmed that J&K is an integral part of India and the only pending issue is Pakistan vacating occupied territory. Why does this matter for you? The Indus Waters Treaty of 1960, brokered by the World Bank, keeps appearing in CLAT passages, and the OIC is a regular GK name. Bottom line for the exam, remember the Indus Waters Treaty, the World Bank, the OIC, and right of reply at the UN.
Calling Pakistan a “living example of Frankenstein state”, India Friday slammed the neighbouring country at the United Nations, while highlighting the latter’s “illegal occupation of Indian territories and their return”. Exercising India’s right of reply at the Interactive Dialogue on the UN High Commissioner’s annual report, first Secretary at the Permanent Mission of India to the UN, Anupama Singh, also called the Indus Water Treaty “outdated”.
She reiterated the country’s longstanding position on Jammu and Kashmir that it remained an integral part of India.
“Jammu and Kashmir was, is and will always remain an integral and inalienable part of India. The only unresolved issue is Pakistan’s illegal occupation of Indian territories and their return,” Singh said.
“Pakistan’s propaganda cannot obscure the reality of repression in Pakistan occupied Jammu and Kashmir,” she said.
The Indian diplomat asserted that Pakistan and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation’s (OIC) allegations against India were “baseless” and was aimed at diverting attention from its internal challenges and its focus on terrorism. “We categorically reject the baseless and malicious allegations made by Pakistan. We also categorically reject the references to J&K made by the OIC. Pakistan’s propaganda is designed to mask its domestic failures and support for terrorism. Its misuse of the OIC Coordinator’s role only reinforces this deception,” Singh said.
Bringing into light the ongoing tragedy in Rawalakot, along with the violence and crackdown on civilians in Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK), Singh said the incidents were a “predictable outcome of a system built on forcible occupation and sustained through depression.”
Her remarks came after a security operation carried out on June 14 in Rawalakot left at least two people dead and multiple injured. According to the Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC), the operation entailed the dispersal of protesters who had gathered to stage a sitn-in at the Eidgah site by security forces. The group alleged the operation led to communication disruptions and restrictions on the movement of essential supplies,ANIreported.
More than a week before the Rawalakot incident,violent clashes took placein PoJK, leaving at least 20 people dead and several others injured, according to news agencyPTI. Led by the JAAC, the movement reflected growing anger over economic hardship, political disenfranchisement and increasing restrictions on civil liberties, according to a report inThe Indian Express.
Hours after these clashes,New Delhi criticised Islamabadover a statement, where it hoped the international community will hold the country “accountable for its misdeeds and abuses”.
During the session on Friday, Singh reiterated India’s stance, saying: “Decades of military land grabs, demographic engineering and the denial of basic freedoms have brought matters to a point where even demand for bread, electricity, rights and dignity are met with bullets and brutality. This should surprise no one. An illegal and illegitimate occupation can be sustained only through force.”
In her remarks, Anupama Singh also highlighted Pakistan’s record on terrorism, saying it first nurtures terror groups and faces its consequences later.
“Pakistan is a country whose sitting defence minister “boasts of hosting, training and deploying terrorists as state policy.” she said.
She also pointed out that Pakistan has become a victim of its own terror architecture. “… Yet Pakistan calls itself a victim of terrorism, indeed a paradox which only Pakistan could sustain. It is a living example of a Frankenstein state which is shocked when its own monster bites back.”
Singh said it was illogical of Pakistan to demand the privileges of cooperation on the matter of the 66-year-old Indus Water Treaty. “Our position on Indus Water Treaty is well known. It defies logic that a state which exports terror as an instrument of policy continues to demand the privileges of cooperation predicated on goodwill and friendship,” she said.
Earlier, India’s Water Resources MinisterCR Patil told reporters last week: India was working to ensure that “not a single drop” of water reaches Pakistan in the coming years, following directions from Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
In response, Pakistan Foreign Ministry spokesperson Tahir Andrabi asserted that any effort to significantly reduce or stop water supplies essential for the livelihood, agriculture and well-being of more than 250 million Pakistanis would be highly irresponsible.
According to Pakistani news websiteDawn, Andrabi called it an “act of war” under Article 51 of the UN Charter, and said that such an action would violate international norms governing shared rivers as well as bilateral agreements between the two countries.
The Indian diplomat at the UN said the treaty no longer aligns with the present-day realities, as she urged Pakistan to focus on its internal matters rather than fixating on Indian territories.
Following the Pahalgam terror attack in April 2025, which led to the deaths of 26 individuals, India held the Indus Waters Treaty of 1960 in abeyance, “until Pakistan credibly and irrevocably abjures its support for cross-border terrorism.”
“It is equally undeniable that the treaty is now outdated. No technical arrangement can remain frozen in time while the world around it is transformed. A treaty negotiated in 1960 cannot be treated as a perpetual entitlement which is insulated from accountability, detached from present day realities and untouched by the profound changes of the past six decades…,” Singh said.
Concluding her remarks, Singh advised, “Instead of coveting Indian territories, Pakistan would serve itself and its people far better by putting its own house in order. Its seasonal theatrics in this council have long outlived any novelty.”
The Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs, chaired by Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, is scheduled to meet at 4:30 pm on Friday for a pre-departure briefing addressed by the Ministry of External Affairs ahead of its field visit to Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh, news agency ANI reported.
The study visit will begin on June 22 and will continue for three days thereafter, finally concluding on June 25.
During the visit, the Committee will deliberate on the subject “Understanding India-China Relations and the way forward”, with special focus on the Indo-China border. It will also discuss “Recent developments in India-Pakistan relations”, focusing on the India-Pakistan border.
The visit, covering key locations including Jammu, Srinagar, Kargil and Leh, will entail interactions between the Committee and stakeholders, as well as assessment of ground-level developments,ANIreport stated.
It aims to enable members of the Parliamentary panel to gain first-hand insights into strategic and security-related issues in the border regions of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, especially in the context of India’s relations with China and Pakistan.