Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday said that Pakistan would not allow India “to cross the red line” by holding the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance, PTI news agency reported, citing local media.

Speaking at a three-day International Conference on Glaciers’ Preservation in Tajikistan’s capital Dushanbe, Shehbaz Sharif said that India’s move is deeply regrettable.

“India’s unilateral and illegal decision to hold in abeyance the Indus Waters Treaty, which governs the sharing of the Indus Basin’s water, is deeply regrettable,” Pakistani news portal Dawn quoted Sharif as saying.

“Millions of lives must not be held hostage to narrow political gains, and Pakistan will not allow this. We will never allow the red line to be crossed,” the prime minister said.

Also Read | ‘India can no longer act on goodwill alone’: Shashi Tharoor on Indus Waters Treaty suspension

His remarks came a day after Pakistan Army chief Asim Munir issued a similar warning to India, saying that “water is Pakistan’s red line” and that Islamabad would not allow any compromise.

Indus Waters Treaty suspension
 

India suspended the Indus Waters Treaty in April, following the Pahalgam terror attack, in which 26 people were killed. New Delhi has maintained that the treaty will remain in abeyance until Pakistan stops sponsoring terrorism. 

Brokered by the World Bank, the 1960 treaty defines a mechanism for water sharing and information exchange between the two nuclear-armed neighbour nations for the use of the Indus River water and its five tributaries Sutlej, Beas, Ravi, Jhelum, and Chenab.

Also Read | Indus Waters Treaty ‘badly negotiated’, says PM Modi in Gujarat; suspension making Pak ‘feel the heat’

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has asserted that Pakistan will not get water from India’s rivers and that “playing with the blood of Indians” will cost Islamabad.

“Pakistan will not get a single drop of water that belongs to India. Playing with the blood of Indians will cost Pakistan dearly. This is India’s resolve, and no one in the world can deter us from this commitment,” Modi has said.

India has also accused Pakistan of spreading disinformation over the Indus Water Treaty and reiterated its commitment to responsible water management even amid persistent cross-border terrorism.

Also Read | Pak has violated spirit of Indus Water Treaty by inflicting three wars, thousands of terror attacks: India tells UN

“Pakistan has violated the spirit of the treaty by inflicting three wars and thousands of terror attacks on India. In the last four decades, more than 20,000 Indian lives have been lost in terror attacks, the most recent of which was a dastardly targeted terror attack on tourists in Pahalgam last month. India has shown extraordinary patience and magnanimity throughout this period,” India’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Parvathaneni Harish said last week.

(Inputs from PTI)