Dar Warns India’s Water Projects Create ‘Hydro-Hegemony’ Tools
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar on Thursday warned that at least 17 Indian projects on waterways of the Indus River System would provide New Delhi with “tools for hydro-hegemony.”
In a keynote address at a seminar in Brussels, Dar stated that India has followed its “belligerent statements with illegal actions,” citing numerous projects including the Sawalkot, Kirthai, and Kwar hydroelectric projects on the Chenab River, and diversion projects on the Indus, Chenab, and Ravi rivers. “In total, at least 17 such projects that will drastically alter the river system as a whole, giving India the tools for ‘hydro-hegemony’ that it so desires,” he said.
Dar’s remarks come amid heightened tensions over the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT), which India unilaterally placed in abeyance last year. He emphasised that while Pakistan has consistently upheld the 1960 treaty, which survived three major conflicts, India’s current actions present an unprecedented challenge. “River systems are not merely waterways — they are lifelines,” Dar said, calling India’s stated policy to deprive 240 million people of water a “catastrophe in the making of unparalleled magnitude.”
The Foreign Office has also condemned India’s plans for a Chenab-Beas Link Tunnel project as a “grave violation” of the IWT. Despite a ruling from the Permanent Court of Arbitration that India cannot unilaterally suspend the treaty, New Delhi has maintained its stance. Dar affirmed that Pakistan remains committed to resolving all issues through dialogue and international law, stressing that “the sanctity of treaties is the bedrock of the international order.”
