A Pakistani senator warned on Monday that the “weaponisation of water” would further strain the already fragile relationship between Pakistan and India.
The comments, made by Pakistan Peoples Party Senator Sherry Rehman, followed the approval of a hydropower project on the Chenab River by a panel under India’s Ministry of Environment in New Delhi.
The approval comes amid heightened tensions after India suspended the Indus Waters Treaty with Pakistan in the wake of the deadly Pahalgam terror attack in April this year.
In a post on X, Rehman referred to the green panel’s clearance of the 260-megawatt Dulhasti Stage-II hydropower project on the Chenab River in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kishtwar district.
Describing the move as a “flagrant violation” of the IWT, she said, “This weaponisation of water is neither sane nor acceptable in a region on the frontlines of climate change and environmental stress. It will inflame tensions in a bilateral relationship already bristling with hostility and distrust.”
India took a series of punitive measures against Pakistan a day after the Pahalgam terror attack on April 22, including putting the 1960 vintage Indus Water Treaty (IWT) in “abeyance.”
The Indus Waters Treaty (IWT), brokered by the World Bank, has regulated the sharing and use of the Indus River system between India and Pakistan since 1960.
Approval for the project was granted by the Expert Appraisal Committee on hydropower projects at its 45th meeting earlier this month, clearing the way for floating construction tenders for the run-of-the-river scheme, estimated to cost more than Rs 3,200 crore.
In its assessment, the panel noted that waters of the Chenab basin are shared by India and Pakistan under the provisions of the 1960 treaty and that the project’s design parameters were aligned with those provisions.
“However, the Indus Water Treaty stands suspended with effect from April 23, 2025,” the panel recorded.
Under the treaty, Pakistan held rights over the Indus, Jhelum and Chenab rivers, while India had rights over the Ravi, Beas and Sutlej.
With the treaty now in abeyance, India is moving ahead with multiple hydroelectric projects in the Indus basin, including Sawalkote, Ratle, Bursar, Pakal Dul, Kwar, Kiru, and Kirthai I and II.
The Dulhasti Stage-II project is an expansion of the existing 390 MW Dulhasti Stage-I Hydroelectric Project, which has been successfully operated by the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation Limited since its commissioning in 2007.
