Pakistan raises Indus Waters treaty concerns with UN chief in Rawalpindi

UN Secretary-General António Guterres met with Pakistan's Chief of Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir in Rawalpindi on Wednesday, according to Pakistan's military establishment. The meeting agenda encompassed multiple contentious issues affecting the region's stability and bilateral relations between South Asia's nuclear-armed neighbours.

During the discussions, Pakistani officials raised concerns regarding India's approach to the Indus Waters Treaty, a decades-old agreement governing the sharing of waters from the Indus river system. The treaty, signed in 1960, has traditionally been viewed as one of the world's most successful international water-sharing agreements, though tensions over its implementation have periodically surfaced.

Other topics addressed in the meeting included the Kashmir dispute, persistent security challenges in the region, and concerns about militant activities emanating from Afghanistan. Pakistan has repeatedly flagged cross-border terrorism originating from Afghan territory as a significant threat to its national security.

The visit by the UN Secretary-General comes at a time of heightened regional tensions, with water security emerging as an increasingly critical issue in South Asia amid climate change and competing development demands across the Indus basin.