India's Water Resource Minister C.R. Patil stated that New Delhi is working to ensure the flow of Indus water to Pakistan will stop. Patil also stated that Pakistan would not receive a single drop of water in the coming years.

This development follows the suspension of the Indus Water Treaty since a conflict between India and Pakistan last year. India's foreign ministry stated on June 5 that the treaty would remain suspended until Pakistan completely stops cross-border terrorism. The Indus Water Treaty governs the use of rivers in the Indus basin, which is shared by India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and China. Under the treaty, India has unrestricted access to the basin's eastern rivers while Pakistan receives rights to the western rivers of the Indus basin.

Pakistan's Defense Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif stated in an interview on Friday that Pakistan would go to war with India if its national security regarding water is threatened. Asif added that current developments do not warrant military action. Rivers in the Indus Basin irrigate more than 90% of Pakistan's crops and generate most of its hydroelectric power. All 21 of Pakistan's hydroelectric plants are located within the Indus Basin.

Arpit Chaturvedi, a South Asia advisor at Teneo, said that manipulating the timing of releases from dams on the western rivers could flood Pakistani farmland during planting seasons. Chaturvedi also stated that withholding water during critical irrigation windows could devastate harvests. Pakistan has written to India twice in 2025 and once in May 2026 about abnormal, abrupt flow variations on the Chenab river, Chaturvedi said.

A report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies states that nine in every 10 Pakistanis live within the Indus Basin.