Pakistan defense minister threatens war with India

Pakistan may declare war on India in the event of a threat to national water security due to its refusal to fulfill the treaty on the joint use of the waters of the Indus River.

This was stated by the defense minister of the Islamic republic Khawaja Muhammad Asif.

"As soon as we face a threat to national security, and water resources are part of it, we will start a war with India. Absolutely," Asif said in an interview with the ARY News television channel.

Islamabad will consider the possibility of military action if there is concrete evidence that India "is moving at an alarming speed toward disrupting Pakistan's water supply, using water as a weapon," the head of the defense department added.

Earlier, India's Minister of Water Resources Chandra Prakash Patil stated that access to the waters of the Indus for Pakistan could be completely stopped by June 2028 if it does not stop supporting cross-border terrorism.

Pakistan is facing an acute water shortage due to India's suspension of the bilateral Indus Waters Treaty following the terrorist attack in Pahalgam (union territory of Jammu and Kashmir) in April 2025, which killed 26 people.

In 1960, India and Pakistan signed the Indus Waters Treaty, which provides for the distribution of water resources. Under this agreement, Islamabad gained control over the Indus itself and its tributaries—the Chenab and the Jhelum, which flow from Indian territory. As a result, Pakistan began receiving nearly 80% of the waters of the Indus River basin, which supply about a third of the country's population living in the provinces of Sindh and Balochistan. New Delhi received full control over the Beas, Ravi, and Sutlej rivers under the treaty.

Source: TASS