Federal Minister for Climate Change and Environmental Coordination Dr Musadik Malik said on Friday that any attempt by India to seize Pakistan’s share of water would amount to a declaration of war.
Addressing a seminar on transboundary water resources in Brussels, organised by the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS) and the Embassy of Pakistan, Malik said Pakistan’s agriculture, economy and survival depended on water.
He said around 40 per cent of Pakistan’s population was linked to agriculture, while the sector accounted for nearly 25 per cent of the country’s gross domestic product and underpinned national food security.
The minister said the global water crisis was a matter of justice rather than scarcity, arguing that vulnerable communities were suffering the effects of climate change and upstream control of shared rivers.
He said Pakistan faced the combined impact of glacier melt, changing hydrological patterns and uncertainty over transboundary water flows.
Referring to fluctuations in the flow of the Chenab River, Malik said water levels had changed sharply within two days despite the absence of rainfall, raising concerns over transboundary water management.
He said attacks on river flows affecting Pakistan’s water resources would be viewed as a declaration of war from Pakistan’s perspective.
The federal minister added that the consequences of the past two confrontations were evident to all, but stressed that Pakistan sought peace rather than conflict.
Malik said Pakistan was not against ordinary people in India, adding that poor farmers on both sides of the border faced similar challenges arising from climate change and changing weather patterns.
He called on academics, policymakers and international institutions to support dialogue, strengthen international cooperation and pursue negotiated solutions to transboundary water disputes.
