The write-up has been submitted by Iqbal Latif. Forensic Watcher of War, Not Warlord of Fiction. An advocate of Peace Through Reason.
Don’t sleep like Rip Van Winkle while blocked waters are turning into the nightmare Nehru and Ayub Khan worked so hard to avoid. The worst spectre of South Asia—a water war—is now raising its ugly head, driven by leadership that fully understands the consequences, yet chooses recklessness over reason.
To:
Mr. Ajay Banga
President
The World Bank Group
1818 H Street, NW
Washington, DC 20433
United States
CC:
The Hon. Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India
The Hon. Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif, Prime Minister of Pakistan
Subject: Indus Waters Treaty in Peril – A Plea for Immediate Intervention Before Strategic Madness Sparks Famine and War
Dear President Banga,
I write to you not just as a concerned global citizen, but as a witness to the unravelling of one of the world’s most vital peace-keeping accords: the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty (IWT)—of which the World Bank was a proud broker and guarantor.
Today, we are witnessing the systematic dismantling of that treaty by the Government of India, which has moved from delay tactics to outright denial of Pakistan’s rightful share of Indus waters. Not a single drop from the Chenab flows freely. The dams have been sealed. Tributaries throttled. India draws 100% of its allocated share and is now actively interfering with Pakistan’s.
This is not a breach—it is a hydrological siege.
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Let us be clear:
This is not a strategy. This is a provocation. This is weaponized famine.
India’s unilateral actions constitute violations of:
The 1960 Indus Waters Treaty
International Water Law under the 1997 UN Convention
Article 7 of the Geneva Conventions (Protection of Civilians)
By violating the treaty, India forfeits its legal claim over the eastern rivers—Ravi, Sutlej, and Beas.
India cannot cherry-pick peace. If the treaty is in abeyance, then all structures, diversions, and dams on the eastern rivers become illegal under international law.
The dams India has built are only lawful because the IWT protects them. Without the treaty, Pakistan is not only within its rights—it is compelled to respond.
The Unsung Miracle of the Indus Waters Treaty
It remains one of the least acknowledged miracles of modern diplomacy:
The Indus Waters Treaty of 1960 enabled the creation of the largest man-made irrigation system in human history—a vast network of dams, link canals, and barrages that turned South Asia’s river basin into a lifeline for over 300 million people.
At a time when India and Pakistan were newly partitioned—scarred by trauma and unresolved territorial conflicts—this treaty, negotiated not imposed, was a triumph of rational statecraft.
Despite three full-scale wars, the IWT endured.
It remains the only long-standing agreement between two nuclear rivals to function continuously for over 60 years.
Thanks to the World Bank’s stewardship, Pakistan built Tarbela, Mangla, Chashma, and a 60,000 km irrigation network, forming the largest contiguous irrigation system on Earth.
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To threaten it now is to dismantle a civilizational achievement—a rare instance where water became not a weapon, but a symbol of peace.
And yet, this legacy now stands on the edge of erasure.
Mr. Banga, this crisis will not end in diplomacy.
It will end in drought, displacement, sabotage, and regional instability that will reverberate across South Asia and beyond.
Over 40 million acre-feet (MAF) of water is now held behind dozens of Indian structures—big and small—on rivers that, under the treaty, should have flowed uninterrupted.
Each of these has now become a flashpoint. Once water becomes a weapon, retaliation becomes inevitable.
We urgently appeal to your office to:
Summon both nations back to the negotiating table under World Bank auspices
Publicly reaffirm the World Bank’s commitment as a treaty guarantor
Call upon the Government of India to immediately cease all disruptive hydrological activity
Initiate a joint World Bank–UN fact-finding mission to assess compliance and water security on both sides
This is no longer a routine matter of diplomacy.
This is state-sponsored famine in motion.
You hold the last thread of institutional credibility capable of preventing catastrophe.
History will remember who stood silent while rivers were turned into battlegrounds—
And who spoke, when speaking still had power.
With urgent hope,
Iqbal Latif
An advocate of Peace Through Reason
London | Paris
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The write-up has been submitted by Iqbal Latif. Forensic Watcher of War, Not Warlord of Fiction. An advocate of Peace Through Reason.
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