India’s Indus Gamble: How Water Is Becoming a Strategic Weapon in South Asia

Jan 16, 2026 | Saima Afzal
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India’s approval of the 260-megawatt (MW) Dulhasti Stage-II hydropower project on the Chenab River marks more than an incremental expansion of infrastructure. It reflects a deeper transformation in South Asia’s water politics. Coming after New Delhi’s April 2025 decision to place the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) in abeyance, the move signals a shift away from one of the world’s most durable frameworks for transboundary water cooperation toward a strategy in which upstream control is increasingly treated as a source of geopolitical leverage. For Pakistan, whose agricultural and economic stability depends overwhelmingly on Indus Basin flows, the implications are profound.