Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif told the UN General Assembly on Sept. 25 that “any attempt to stop, impede or divert Pakistan’s share of the waters will be treated as an act of war. India must make no mistake about it.” India has held the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty “in abeyance” since a terrorist attack in April 2025. Sharif said that decision “has no legal basis whatsoever” and that it has been rejected by UN experts and by the Court of Arbitration. He credited President Trump with ending that conflict, saying “his timely intervention came at a decisive juncture when two nuclear-armed neighbors stood at the brink of an all-out war.”

India answered in a right of reply that evening, according to the UN’s transcript. Its representative called Sharif’s remarks “bizarre” and noted that Osama bin Laden had lived “right on the doorstep of Pakistani Army’s premier academy.” He called Pakistan “a regime of the army, by the army, and for the army” and said “continued terrorism by Pakistan will have consequences.” Pakistan’s representative replied that India is “a state that has elevated propaganda into statecraft,” and that it “exports terrorism and violence while trying to import victimhood and sympathy.”