Pakistan, Sept. 2 -- India reached Bishkek, speaking of turning "shared geography into shared opportunities." Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif used the same stage to remind the region how this geography also creates obligations. Water, he said, is the lifeblood of South Asia and cannot be used for coercion or political leverage. The timing was particularly awkward for New Delhi as just a day earlier, the arbitral tribunal in The Hague had held that the Indus Waters Treaty remains in force and that India had no lawful basis to place it in abeyance.

That ruling strengthens a position Pakistan has maintained since April 2025. India suspended participation in the treaty framework after the Pahalgam attack and sought to inject a security dispute...