‘Our water...or their blood’: Former Pakistan minister Bilawal Bhutto warns India over Indus Waters Treaty

In response to India's decision to suspend the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) after the Pahalgam terror attack, former Pakistan Finance Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari issued a "stern warning", saying that blood would flow in the Indus rivers if water is stopped.

“The Indus is ours and will remain ours - either our water will flow through it, or their blood,” former foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto was quoted as saying by Pakistan-based GeoTV while addressing a public rally in the Sukkur area of his home Sindh province.

Zardari's statement came days after India suspended the Indus Waters Treaty with Pakistan a day after at least 26 people were killed in the Pahalgam terror attack. The Resistance Front (TRF), a proxy of the banned Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba, claimed responsibility for the attack.

The Ministry of External Affairs said on Wednesday that the Indus Waters Treaty of 1960 will be held in "abeyance" until Pakistan irreversibly ends its support for cross-border terrorism.

The Treaty allocates the Western Rivers (Indus, Jhelum, Chenab) to Pakistan and the Eastern Rivers (Ravi, Beas, Sutlej) to India. The Treaty, mediated by the World Bank, regulated the sharing of the waters between India and Pakistan. It allows each country specific uses of the rivers allocated to the other.

In response to India's decision to suspend the IWT, Pakistan threatened to suspend the Simla Agreement and put other bilateral accords with India on hold.

Pakistan also suspended all trade, closed its airspace for Indian airlines and said any attempt to divert the water meant for it under the Indus Water Treaty will be considered an "Act of War".

The Simla Agreement was signed in 1972. The treaty, signed in Shimla, was inked by then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and Pakistani President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Bilawal's grandfather.

Bilawal said the country and its people condemned the recent terrorist attack in India because Pakistanis themselves remain victims of terrorism.