ISLAMABAD: Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif on Friday rejected the “weaponisation of water” and warned that Pakistan would not allow India to cross the red line by holding the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) in abeyance and endangering millions of lives for narrow political gains.Sharif was addressing a three-day International Conference on Glaciers’ Preservation in Tajikistan’s capital Dushanbe when he raked up the issue.“India’s unilateral and illegal decision to hold in abeyance the IWT, which governs the sharing of the Indus Basin’s water, is deeply regrettable,” 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 PM told the conference attended by over 2,500 delegates from 80 UN member states and 70 international organisations.The event was hosted by Tajikistan govt in collaboration with UN, Unesco, WMO, Asian Development Bank, and other key partners. Sharif’s remarks came after India, soon after the April 22 terrorist attack in Pahalgam, announced abeyance of the IWT among other punitive measures. The IWT was signed in 1960 by the two countries to address the water dispute between them and to share the waters of the six main rivers of the Indus basin.
