Dar Warns of Indian ‘Hydro-Hegemony’ with 17 Water Projects
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar on Thursday warned that at least 17 Indian water projects on the Indus River System would provide New Delhi with the “tools for hydro-hegemony.”
In a keynote address to a seminar in Brussels, Dar stated that India has followed up its belligerent statements with illegal actions, including the Sawalkot, Kirthai, and Kwar hydroelectric projects on the Chenab River. He said India’s stated policy to intentionally deprive 240 million people of their rightful water access represents a “catastrophe in the making of unparalleled magnitude.”
The statement comes amid heightened tensions after India’s unilateral abeyance of the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) in 2025, a move the Permanent Court of Arbitration has ruled against. Pakistan has also denounced India’s recent plans for a “Link-3 Project” to divert water from the Chenab to the Beas river as a “grave violation” of the IWT.
Dar reiterated that while Pakistan remains committed to resolving all issues through dialogue and international law, any attempt by India to change the flow of cross-border waterways would be considered an “act of war.”
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Updated: 9:59 AM PKT — June 19, 2026
Pakistan has urged the United Nations Security Council to take notice of India’s “brazen violations” of the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT), warning that New Delhi’s actions threaten regional peace. In a letter delivered to the UNSC president, Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar drew urgent attention to two illegal Indian infrastructure projects on the Chenab River system intended for water diversion, which he said revealed India’s intent to weaponise water.
Islamabad has also denounced India’s plan to begin work on a “Link-3 Project” to divert water from the Chenab to the Beas basin, with the Foreign Office terming it a “grave violation” of the IWT and international law. Additionally, concerns were raised over India’s planned “silt flushing” of the Salal Dam, a move Pakistan stated would provide water control capabilities not permissible under the treaty.
