What the commissioner said
Pakistan’s Commissioner for Indus Waters Syed Muhammad Mehar Ali Shah, speaking on Geo News’ programme ‘Jirga’ on Sunday, 4 January 2026, said India’s claim to have placed the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) in “abeyance” has no standing under international treaty law and that the treaty remains fully in force. “As far as holding the treaty in abeyance is concerned, the word ‘abeyance’ is not recognised under international treaty law. It is a coined term, because we believe India understands that it cannot suspend, breach or terminate the treaty,” Dawn quoted him as saying. Shah called India’s continued non-cooperation within the rules-based framework “alarming” and said Pakistan was pursuing a “formal and carefully calibrated legal and diplomatic response”.
Where the dispute sits
India first placed the IWT in abeyance in April 2025, after the attack on tourists in held Kashmir’s Pahalgam that killed 26, which New Delhi blamed on Islamabad without evidence. Pakistan called any such suspension an “act of war”; in June 2025 the Permanent Court of Arbitration held India cannot unilaterally keep the treaty in abeyance.
Shah cited “three episodes” of India altering water flows to Pakistan since 24 April 2025 — twice in May and once in December — when India increased the flow and then decreased it for a few days. He framed any Indian move to reduce Pakistan’s share “would be considered an act of war” and argued that the western rivers should flow in their natural pattern.
What the treaty allows
Shah said the IWT’s 12th article allows amendment only “if both parties mutually agree”. “And it clearly says that no one party can unilaterally change it,” he said. He cited the 2007 Baglihar Dam neutral-expert ruling as an example of how the third-party process works.
What remains open
Pakistan’s next formal step had not been published on the date of this report. The commissioner’s “calibrated” framing suggests Pakistan is keeping procedural options open while the disputed-flow episodes continue.
Sources & reporting notes
This article draws on a single contemporaneous Dawn report of Commissioner Shah's 4 January 2026 interview on Geo News. No independent Pakistan or international outlet's same-day article on the interview could be located within the source-finding budget; wire-service direct URLs and the World Bank's IWT pages returned extraction-backend errors. The Dawn report quotes the commissioner directly and is treated as an authoritative single-source account; this single-outlet limitation is disclosed in lieu of a second independent domain.
- Dawn — India's 'abeyance' claim has no standing under treaty law: Pakistan commissioner for Indus WatersPublished 4 January 2026. Reports the commissioner's interview on Geo News' Jirga programme, his legal argument on the 'abeyance' framing, the three altered-flow episodes Pakistan recorded since April 2025, and the dispute-resolution history under the treaty.
