Pakistan has pushed back sharply against India at a UN Security Council session, rejecting claims made by New Delhi’s representative and accusing India instead of breaching the Indus Waters Treaty and backing militant activity against Pakistan.
Addressing the council, Pakistani diplomat Ansar Shah said India was attempting, unsuccessfully, to distort the facts on the ground. He argued there is no legal basis for India to unilaterally walk away from the Indus Waters Treaty, a decades-old agreement governing how the two countries share river waters.
Court of Arbitration Backs Treaty’s Validity
Shah pointed to a ruling from a Court of Arbitration in August 2025, which confirmed the Indus Waters Treaty remains legally binding. He warned that treating shared water resources as a bargaining chip amounts to a grave breach of treaty commitments, one with the potential to destabilize peace at both a regional and international level.
He then turned to India’s terrorism allegations against Pakistan, calling them baseless and describing them as a smokescreen for India’s own alleged role in funding and directing militant activity inside Pakistani territory. According to Shah, groups he linked to Indian backing, among them the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, the Baloch Liberation Army, and the Majeed Brigade, have been responsible for killing thousands of Pakistani civilians and security personnel, including women and children.
The Pakistani envoy went further, claiming there is documented evidence tying India to extrajudicial killings carried out abroad, including in North America. Shah argued this record shows India functions as a sponsor of terrorism rather than a target of it.
Shifting the focus back onto India directly, Shah accused the country of practicing state terrorism in what he called illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir. He said Kashmiris continue to be denied the right to self-determination, a right he said is guaranteed under multiple Security Council resolutions that India has ignored.
Pakistan Cites UN Charter Obligations
Shah said India continues to sidestep its duties under Article 25 of the UN Charter, which obligates all member states to abide by Security Council decisions. He maintained that Jammu and Kashmir was never legally part of India, and that no action taken unilaterally by an occupying power can alter its disputed status under international law.
He closed his remarks by urging India to honor its commitments under international law, the UN Charter, and existing Security Council resolutions, framing the Indus Waters Treaty dispute as part of a broader pattern of noncompliance.