‘Will cut off those hands’: Pakistan minister's threat to India over Indus Waters Treaty

AHebdomad after Islamabad's “ state of war” comment o'er the indus river water, Pakistan has once again threatened India over the treaty. Addressing a press conference, Pakistan's climate change minister Musadik Malik reportedly warned that Islamabad would “cut off those hands” that he claimed sought to control the Indus water. “There is a tap being controlled by the prime minister of a neighbouring country. He says he will not let even a drop of water flow into Pakistan,” Malik claimed, according to Dawn. Several Pakistani news outlets carried clips of Malik's statements, which also surfaced online. HT could not independently verify the authenticity of the videos.Malik's remarks come a week after Pakistan threatened to “go to war” over the decades old Indus Waters Treaty (IWT), which has been kept in abeyance by New Delhi since April 2025 after tensions flared between both countries last year after the Pahalgam terror attack on April 22, which led to the deaths of 26 people.“The moment we feel that our national security, and water is part of our national security, is being threatened, we will go to war against India. Definitely,” Pakistan's defence minister, Khawaja Asif, said while speaking to ARY news earlier this month.Also Read | ‘Track 2’ that wasn’t: India-Pak back channels, water wars, and a hardening red lineHe further said that military action could be considered if Pakistan finds evidence that India had been acting at an “alarming speed” to stop the water supply.‘Desperate attempts to cover up its own failings’In response to Asif's remarks, India said that Islamabad was attempting to “cover up its own failings”, and stood firm on the decision to keep the IWT in abeyance.“Regarding the comments made by the Pakistani Defence Minister, we have seen reports on the matter. Such remarks are desperate attempts by Pakistan to cover up its own failings and divert attention away from its human rights abuses. We categorically reject these fabricated claims with the contempt they deserve,” ministry of external affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said during a weekly press briefing. India has remained firm on the suspension of the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty, earlier saying that its decision would remain “unchanged."New Delhi has said that the treaty will remain suspended until Pakistan takes credible, concrete action to dismantle its cross-border terror infrastructure. While the treaty, brokered by the World Bank, permits Pakistan to utilise 80 per cent of the Indus water basin for its agricultural needs, the country's current failure to manage these resources has left its farmlands vulnerable.