“We Defeated India”, ‘Will Defeat India Again’: Says Pak Defence Minister

Amid rising tensions post-Operation Sindoor, Khawaja Asif accuses India of deliberately choking Chenab’s flow and declares Simla Agreement ‘dead’, further escalating the diplomatic freeze.

June 7, 2025 | In a sharp escalation of rhetoric between India and Pakistan, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif has declared that Islamabad will defeat India in a ‘water war’, framing the dried-up Chenab River as a battleground for a new kind of conflict.

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Speaking on national television, Asif accused India of deliberate water restriction, linking it to the aftermath of the Pahalgam terror attack and India’s military retaliation under Operation Sindoor.

“India was defeated in a conventional war, and now we will defeat it in the water war as well,” Asif warned.

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Chenab Flow Controversy & Treaty Freeze

The Pakistani leadership claims that India’s April decision to suspend the Indus Waters Treaty has already had visible impact — the Chenab’s significantly lower flow is being portrayed as a calculated Indian move.

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India has, however, maintained that Pakistan’s continued cross-border terrorism invalidates the conditions of the treaty.

“What we have seen is sustained cross-border terrorism… Hence, treaty obligations cannot continue in good faith,” India’s Water Secretary Debashree Mukherjee had said on April 24.

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No Backchannels, Simla Agreement Called ‘Dead’

Asif further stated there are no ongoing back-channel talks between the two nations, dismissing speculation of quiet diplomacy. He added that Pakistan now views the 1972 Simla Agreement as “null and void,” reverting its stance on Kashmir to the 1948 UN resolutions.

“The Simla Agreement is now a dead document. We are back to the 1948 position… these disputes will now be dealt with internationally,” he said.

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India Holds Firm

Despite four formal communications from Pakistan — three of them after Operation Sindoor — India has refused to engage, with an official statement on April 29 reiterating that talks will resume only after Pakistan gives up terrorism “credibly and irrevocably.”

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What This Means

As Pakistan doubles down on its position and stokes fears of a “water war,” the fragile diplomatic and military balance between the two countries appears increasingly brittle. With the Indus Waters Treaty in limbo and Kashmir dialogue reset to a pre-Simla framework, the region could see renewed diplomatic and geopolitical upheaval.

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Tags:

India Pakistan Conflict, Chenab River, Indus Waters Treaty, Operation Sindoor, Khawaja Asif, Water War, Simla Agreement, Kashmir Dispute, Cross-Border Terrorism, India Foreign Policy