India to Suspend Water Treaty with Pakistan

India announced plans to suspend the Indus Waters Treaty with Pakistan following a deadly terrorist attack in Indian-administered Kashmir that left at least 26 people dead.

The decision marks a major escalation in tensions between the two nuclear-armed neighbors.

Indian Foreign Minister Vikram Misri revealed the move during a press conference in New Delhi on Wednesday evening, following an emergency security meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Misri stated that India will freeze implementation of the water-sharing treaty until Pakistan can provide “credible and irreversible” proof that it has ceased support for cross-border terrorism.

The attack occurred Tuesday when gunmen opened fire on a group of tourists in the Himalayan region, killing 26 and injuring 17 others.

It was the deadliest assault on civilians in Kashmir in recent years. Security forces have since launched a large-scale manhunt for the attackers, while security has been tightened across the region.

India has long accused Pakistan of supporting armed insurgents in Kashmir, a claim Islamabad denies. Pakistan maintains that it provides only moral and diplomatic support to the Kashmiri people, while many in the region view the fighters as part of a grassroots struggle for independence.

Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh condemned the assault and vowed to hold both the perpetrators and the masterminds behind the attack accountable. “We will not only hunt down those who carried out the attack,” Singh said, “but also those who orchestrated this heinous act on our soil.”

The Prime Minister, who cut short a visit to Saudi Arabia, returned to India early Wednesday and is expected to convene a special session of the National Security Council to discuss further actions.

Signed in 1960 and brokered by the World Bank, the Indus Waters Treaty has withstood multiple wars and decades of hostility between India and Pakistan.

Under the agreement, India controls the waters of three eastern rivers, while Pakistan controls the three western rivers. Suspending the treaty could have significant geopolitical and environmental implications for the region.