India Escalates Tensions, Vows to Block Pakistan’s Water Under Indus Treaty Suspension

India Blames Pakistan for April 22 Attack; Ceasefire Reached After Intense Clashes

By DTD- On May 22, 2025

New Delhi— Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared on Thursday that Pakistan will no longer receive water from rivers under Indian control, intensifying regional tensions a month after a deadly attack in Illegally Indian-Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK).

Speaking at a public rally in Rajasthan, Modi stated, “Pakistan will have to pay a heavy price for every terrorist attack… Pakistan’s army will pay it, Pakistan’s economy will pay it.” The comments come in the wake of India’s suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty, a landmark 1960 agreement brokered by the World Bank that governs the sharing of rivers crucial to Pakistan’s agriculture and water security.

India blames Pakistan for the April 22 attack that claimed the lives of 26 Hindu tourists in IIOJK, a charge Islamabad has strongly denied. The two nuclear-armed neighbors engaged in their most intense military clashes in nearly three decades before a ceasefire was reached on May 10.

Despite the treaty suspension, Pakistan’s finance minister recently stated that the move would have no immediate impact on the country’s water supply. The Indus treaty covers rivers that provide water to nearly 80% of Pakistan’s agricultural land.

Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, in an interview with Dutch outlet NOS, reinforced Modi’s stance, saying, “If the terrorists are in Pakistan, we will hit them where they are.” He confirmed that military operations would continue, though the ceasefire between the two nations has largely held.

Since the April attack, India and Pakistan have taken reciprocal measures including suspension of trade, visa restrictions, and border closures. The two countries have long shared a fraught relationship since their partition in 1947, having fought three wars—two over Kashmir, the disputed Himalayan region.

There has been no immediate response from Pakistan to the latest statements by Indian leadership.