QUAD Condemns Terrorism, Pak Looks to Increase Water Storage Capacity—What It All Means

The foreign ministers of the US, India, Japan and Australia issued their first joint statement on July 1 strongly condemning cross-border terrorism. The statement came in the wake of the Pahalgam attack on April 22 in which terrorists opened fire at Baisaran meadow near Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir killing 26 people, most of them tourists.

“The Quad [quadrilateral security dialogue] unequivocally condemns all acts of terrorism and violent extremism in all its forms and manifestations including cross-border terrorism and renews our commitment to counterterrorism cooperation. We condemn in the strongest terms the terrorist attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir on April 22, 2025 which claimed the lives of 25 Indian nationals and one Nepali citizen while injuring several others,” the joint statement read.

According to Reuters, they called on all members of the United Nations to cooperate actively with “all relevant authorities” in delivering justice to the “perpetrators, organisers and financiers of this reprehensible act” without any delay. Although the joint statement does not name Pakistan directly, it shows India’s international position on intolerance toward state-backed militancy and puts additional pressure on Pakistan.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar visited the US from June 30 to July 2 at the invitation of Marco Rubio. “A pleasure meeting US @SecRubio this afternoon on the sidelines of Quad foreign ministers’ meeting,” Jaishankar posted on X.

Hydropolitics Behind Indus Water Treaty

On the same day Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced that Islamabad would take urgent action to increase the country’s water storage capacity to combat New Delhi’s “weaponisation” of water. His remarks made during a visit to the National Emergencies Operation Centre are being viewed as an impulsive response to India’s decision to keep the treaty in abeyance over Pakistan-sponsored terrorism in line with PM Modi’s declaration that “water and blood cannot flow together” reported Hindustan Times.

Right after its announcement Pakistan condemned India’s suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) and suspended the 1972 Simla Agreement to sever all trade, travel and diplomatic ties including closure of airspace for Indian flights. An emergency National Security Committee (NSC) meeting chaired by Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif declared the move “illegal” and emphasised the 1960 treaty’s inviolability as a World Bank-brokered pact governing six Indus Basin rivers that are critical for Pakistan’s population. NSC also warned that “any attempt to stop or divert water flows will be an act of war” that echoed PM Modi’s earlier statement “water and blood cannot flow together” as reported by Hindustan Times.

After the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam on April 22 India took five-point action measures against Pakistan that included the suspension of the IWT. This agreement originally signed in 1960 withstood bilateral conflicts and tensions for decades.

According to a 2019 study published by The Yale Review of International Studies, the IWT was not just an agreement on paper but a reflection of hydropolitics in the Indus Basin rooted in the partition of India and Pakistan. The study stated that the treaty was formed as a consequence of the 1947–48 war when India first stopped water supplies from the Ferozepur headworks to the canals flowing into Pakistan’s Lahore and Dipalpur regions just months after Partition, triggering acute shortages for Pakistan. At that time no formal agreement existed between the two newly formed countries on sharing river waters. By flowing through India, the country has theoretical control over the water flow and timing as it is the upper riparian of the river.

The treaty finds its roots in the 1947–48 war, also known as the first Kashmir war, when India restricted water flow to Pakistan on April 1, 1948, for the first and only time, leading to severe shortages in Pakistan. This sudden move caused panic and water shortages in Pakistan’s Punjab region where farmers relied on the river water for crop irrigation. Both countries signed a short-term Inter-Dominion Accord on May 4, 1948, that required India to restore the water flow in return for annual payments. Eventually they signed the IWT on September 19,1960 with mediation from the World Bank. The agreement assigned the eastern rivers—Ravi, Beas and Sutlej—to India while the western rivers—Jhelum, Chenab and Indus — were given to Pakistan. However, concerns about water security had already taken deep root in Pakistan.

The April 22 attack in Pahalgam, Baisaran meadow, a major tourist destination in Jammu and Kashmir, has been described as the deadliest assault on civilians in the region since 2019. Armed militants opened fire on a group of visitors at the popular site, killing 26 tourists and injuring several others. The incident has reignited concerns over security in the Union Territory’s tourism hubs.