Sultana Weighs In on the Suspension of the Indus River Waters Treaty in DW News Article

May 19, 2025

Farhana Sultana

Geography & the Environment Department

Environmental Conflict and Collaboration

South Asia Center

Government

International Affairs

International Agreements

South Asia

Water

Farhana Sultana

India has suspended the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) with Pakistan following a deadly militant attack in Kashmir, signaling a shift toward using water as geopolitical leverage.

While water still flows under the treaty’s framework, India’s move has created a legal gray zone, raising concerns among experts about regional water security, treaty integrity and future relations with neighbors like Bangladesh and China.

India's move to use the Indus Waters Treaty as geopolitical leverage “undermines the legal integrity of such treaties,” says Farhana Sultana, professor of geography and the environment.

“These treaty violations and suspensions can have ripple-on deleterious (harmful) effects across and beyond the region for the examples they set,” she says, adding that “any unilateral suspension of a treaty on transboundary international rivers pose grave threats to regional security.”

Read more in the DW News article, “How will the Indus water treaty freeze affect South Asia?”