Shehbaz UNGA speech: diverting Indus waters will be an act of war, and 5 other points

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif told the 81st UN General Assembly in New York on Thursday, 25 September 2026, that any attempt to stop, impede or divert Pakistan's share of the Indus waters will be treated as an act of war. The speech, delivered on Thursday evening Pakistan time, covered six subjects: water, Kashmir, Afghanistan and terrorism, the Gulf shipping lanes, Gaza, and climate.

Here is what he said on each, and what it means at home.

1. Indus Waters Treaty: "an act of war"

This was the line that led every bulletin. India has held the 1960 treaty "in abeyance" since April 2025. Shehbaz said that decision had "no legal basis whatsoever" and that the treaty remains "valid, binding and fully operative".

• Pakistan's position: any stoppage or diversion of its share is an act of war.
• His framing: "Water must never be weaponised. Rivers should nourish nations, not divide them."

Why it matters to a reader here: the Indus, Jhelum and Chenab feed most of Punjab's and Sindh's canal irrigation, so wheat, rice and cotton prices, and hydropower from Tarbela and Mangla, all depend on these flows.

2. Kashmir and the May 2025 conflict

He said Pakistan used its right of self-defence in the May 2025 conflict with India, and credited US President Donald Trump's intervention with helping bring the ceasefire. He called for a "just and fair" settlement of Kashmir through the UN-promised plebiscite, and repeated that "Kashmir has been, and always will be, Pakistan's jugular vein."

3. Afghanistan, TTP and BLA

• Pakistan has lost nearly 100,000 lives and more than $150 billion in economic losses to terrorism, he said.
• He named the TTP and BLA as groups using Afghan territory, and asked the Afghan authorities for "verifiable action".

The speech came as fighting continued on the border. Our running page on the clashes: Pakistan-Afghanistan border clash, latest.

4. Hormuz and Bab al-Mandeb: the fuel angle

Shehbaz called the Strait of Hormuz and Bab al-Mandeb "arteries of the global economy" and said they must stay open rather than become "choke points of confrontation". He also condemned the Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia.

This is the part of the speech with the most direct effect on household budgets. Most of Pakistan's imported crude and LNG comes through Hormuz. Petrol is Rs 389.28 a litre at PSO's Karachi depot price today; follow it daily on our petrol price page and work out your own monthly spend with the fuel cost calculator.

5. Gaza and Palestine

He condemned Israel's actions in Gaza and the West Bank, and in Lebanon and Syria, and restated support for an independent Palestinian state on pre-1967 borders with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital.

6. Climate

Pakistan produces less than 1% of global emissions, he said, while facing some of the worst climate damage. With NDMA warning of flash floods in Swat, Skardu and Neelum until 30 September, that point is not abstract: see the NDMA rain alert.

The closing line

"We have chosen dialogue over confrontation. We have chosen cooperation over coercion. We have chosen peace over war."

What to watch next

India usually answers Pakistan's General Assembly speech with a right of reply, and Pakistan replies in turn. The more practical follow-ups are the bilateral meetings on the margins; our preview listed what Islamabad is seeking from them: what Pakistan took to UNGA.