• Terms Kashmir dispute ‘heart of regional instability’ at Asean moot
• Official tells UNSC New Delhi’s ‘weaponisation’ of shared natural resource for ‘political coercion’ breaches global norms
ISLAMABAD: Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar on Thursday drew attention to key challenges threatening peaceful coexistence and stability across the world, listing the Kashmir dispute and India’s threats to Pakistan’s share of water among them.
He made the remarks at the 33rd Ministerial Meeting of the Asean Regional Forum (ARF), held in Manila, the Philippines.
Addressing the meeting, Mr Dar highlighted challenges that he said “continue to threaten peaceful coexistence, stability and our livelihoods across the region and the world”.
Noting the “continued failure” to resolve longstanding disputes in South Asia, he particularly drew attention to the Jammu and Kashmir dispute as “the heart of regional instability”.
He said Pakistan continued to advocate a “just and peaceful” settlement, in line with the United Nations Charter and resolutions as well as the aspirations of the Kashmiri people.
Mr Dar also once again expressed concern over India’s decision to unilaterally place the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) in abeyance after hostilities flared between the two countries last year.
“We simply cannot afford to let this serious, provocative development remain unaddressed,” Mr Dar said, urging the international community to support a peaceful resolution of the issue.
UNSC debate
Meanwhile, Pakistan on Thursday rejected India’s attempt to “distort facts” about the IWT during a United Nations Security Council (UNSC) open debate, saying New Delhi’s actions in the aftermath of the attack in occupied Kashmir’s Pulwama were “simply illegal”.
Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, highlighted India’s unilateral decision to hold the treaty in abeyance, saying that “no state should be permitted to abuse shared water resources as an instrument of coercion or political pressure, much less when it breaches solemn treaty obligations”.
Subsequently, India’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Harish Parvathaneni, accused Pakistan of “state-sponsored cross-border terrorism”, saying it had “eroded the basis for bilateral cooperation on the treaty”, according to the Indian news agency ANI. He also reiterated New Delhi’s claim over occupied Kashmir.
In response, Pakistan’s First Secretary, Ansar Shah, said India’s “misleading statement” was a “futile attempt to distort facts and misrepresent the situation”.
“The treaty contains no provision whatsoever permitting its so-called abeyance. India’s unilateral action is simply illegal,” he said.
Mr Shah noted that the Permanent Court of Arbitration, in August 2025, had reaffirmed that the treaty “remains valid, binding and fully in force, together with its dispute settlement mechanisms”.
“India’s weaponisation of a shared natural resource for political coercion, with the stated aim of starving the population of Pakistan, is a serious breach of legal instruments and international norms,” Mr Shah highlighted, adding that the situation posed a “direct threat to regional and international peace and security and is completely germane to today’s debate”.
The first secretary also dismissed India’s “baseless assertion regarding terrorism”, saying it was an attempt by New Delhi “to conceal its sponsorship and financing of terrorism against Pakistan”.
Published in Dawn, July 24th, 2026