India-Pakistan ceasefire at risk if water issue not resolved, warns Ishaq Dar

ISLAMABAD: Deputy Prime Minister/Foreign Minister, Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar warned on Tuesday that the ceasefire between Pakistan and India could be jeopardized if the water dispute stemming from India’s suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty is not resolved.

In an interview with CNN, Ishaq Dar said that Pakistan had no intention of deploying nuclear weapons against India, emphasizing that Islamabad’s retaliatory strikes on May 7 were carried out strictly in self-defense following unprovoked Indian cross-border attacks.

He described India’s operation against Pakistan as a “war” and a “wishful attempt to establish its hegemony” in the long-disputed Kashmir region. However, he firmly stated that “the nuclear option was never on the table.”

“There are certain times when you have to take very serious decisions,” he said, “We were very sure that our conventional capacity and capabilities are strong enough that we will beat them both in air and on ground.”

While the ceasefire has held for now, Dar cautioned that comprehensive negotiations between the two sides have yet to take place.  “We still hope sense will prevail,” he said.

When asked what led to the ceasefire, Ishaq Dar told CNN that “It is in the interest of everybody to not delay or to leave such issues beyond a certain reasonable time.” “The Indians had seen what happened in the sky,” he added. “They could see how serious the damage was.”

Contradicting earlier claims made by India’s Director General of Military Operations, Dar said there was no direct contact between Indian or Pakistani officials for ceasefire.

Instead, Dar said that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio passed on the message that India was ready to stop the fighting.

Dar emphasised that Pakistan was looking forward to establishing a path for long-term peace and security that would provide “dignity for both sides.”

He identified Kashmir as “the root cause of regional instability” and called for the region’s “future self-determination.”

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He reiterated Pakistan’s condemnation of terrorism “in all forms and manifestations” and denied any Pakistani involvement in Pahalgam attack.

Dar also expressed appreciation for U.S. support, saying President Donald Trump supports Pakistan’s antiterrorism efforts.

“If they didn’t believe (in our efforts), they would not have cooperated the way (that they did),” Dar said, referencing Trump’s social media post on “finding a solution” to the Kashmir conflict.

Speaking about the Indus Waters Treaty, which India has unilaterally suspended during the latest tensions, Dar warned that the already precarious ceasefire could be threatened “if the water issue is not resolved” in the coming talks.

He added that Pakistan’s position is clear: India must reverse its suspension of the treaty. Failure to do so, he warned, “will amount to an act of war.”