TODAY, India is justifiably seen as a flagrant offender of international law, as its role in downplaying of established international norms in South Asia is no more hidden from the eye of international community. In its report, released in December, 2025, the UN’s experts panel has slammed India over potential violations of global law including Indian military strikes on Pakistan in May 2025, violating Pakistan’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, its unilateral suspension of the Indus Water Treaty (IWT), undermining the fundamental principles of the IWT and its heinous human rights crimes against the minorities in India, particularly the Kashmiris in the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK). Obviously, these grave Indian infringements of its international obligations have increased regional tensions. As per the Panel’s recommendations, an amicable and peaceful settlement of these burning issues between India and Pakistan is significantly unavoidable to prevent a nuclear South Asia from further escalation.
In a landmark report released on December 15, 2025, United Nations special rapporteurs and independent experts while condemning India’s military strikes on Pakistan via Operation Sindoor in May 2025, regarded the Indian military attack on the Pakistani territory and its civilian population as grave violations of international law and the UN Charter. The UN experts’ panel found that India failed to provide any credential evidence linking Pakistan’s role in the Pahalgam attack in April 2025, which was used as justification to attack Pakistan.
Indian use of force against Pakistan’s sovereignty and its territorial integrity is prohibited under article 2(4) of the UN Charter. Further, India did not notify the UN Security Council of its actions under Article 51, a mandatory requirement for any state claiming to act in self-defense. It is also determined that India has had no right to counter-terrorism force simply because international law does not recognize a separate right to use unilateral military force in a foreign territory under the pretext of counterterrorism. Hence, in no way, India’s unjust and illegal use of force against Pakistan can be justified. Further, the UN’s review panel found the suspension of Indus Water Treaty as a severe breach of world’s law. The report found India’s suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) unlawful, violating international law by bypassing the treaty’s dispute mechanisms, weaponizing water and threatening Pakistani civilians’ basic rights. With India’s claims of material breach being legally weak and lacking evidence, necessitating strict adherence to treaty rules and established procedures, not unilateral actions. The report stressed that the IWT, a binding treaty, doesn’t allow unilateral suspension under its clause XII (4); it requires mutual consent or specific procedures, which India ignored by declaring it “in abeyance” after the April attack in Pahalgam.
According to these findings, suspending the treaty obstructs river flows, turning water into a political weapon, violating international principles against using shared watercourses for leverage, can no longer be justified. The report further emphasizes that affecting river flows directly threatens the fundamental rights of millions of Pakistanis to water, food, livelihoods and public health, a disproportionate and harmful impact on civilians. Moreover, India’s justifications, like “material breach” and alleged cross-border terrorism, were deemed legally weak, as Pakistan had not been shown to violate the treaty and such claims don’t justify suspending human rights obligations.
Clearly, India failed to use the IWT’s built-in dispute settlement system, which the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) reaffirmed as valid, instead taking actions that bypass these established channels. India did not provide sufficient evidence to justify its countermeasures (suspension), which must be temporary, proportionate and preceded by negotiation, unlike its permanent disruption of water flows. In essence, the panel concluded that India’s move lacked legal basis, ignored treaty law and created severe humanitarian risks, demanding a return to treaty compliance through agreed-upon channels, not unilateral action. As for India’s potential HR violations in IIOJK, including the repression against the Indian Muslim minorities, the report notes that following the April attack in Pahalgam, India’s security forces blatantly used the instrument of the Public Safety Act and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, for prolonged detention of Kashmiris in IIOJK without trial. The detainees being tortured, held incommunicado, were subjected to suspicious deaths in custody. The experts also highlighted cases of punitive home demolitions and forced evictions in IIOJK. The report mentioned communication blackouts, the blocking of 8,000 social media accounts and the general suppression of freedom of opinion and expression. The UN’s panel has identified specific incidents where the Indian government’s actions towards minorities constitute severe violations of international law.
The report details instances of “cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment,” indicating a pattern of grave abuses. Examining these findings, India has been severely alleged to transgress the UN’s protection of minorities’ rights guaranteed under the very concept of an International Political and Cultural Liberty, primarily embedded in two core United Nations treaties that form part of the International Bill of Human Rights: The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR); and The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). The report posits an eye opening picture for the international community to charter its warranted concerns, including allegations of support for terror outfits and a dangerous pattern of transnational violence and targeted killings attributed to India in multiple countries, which undermines global norms.
In addition, the findings profoundly validate Pakistan’s long-standing concerns that the Afghan Taliban continue to provide financial, operational and logistical support to the TTP, which has expanded its training infrastructure in various Afghan provinces and conducted over 600 attacks in 2025 against Pakistan. In its conclusion, the UN panel urged India to uphold its international obligations with regards to the chartered concerns, particularly under the IWT, to pursue stability through peaceful dialogue to avert escalation in nuclear -armed South Asia.
—The writer, based in Pakistan, an independent IR & International Law analyst, also an expert in Conflict and Peace Studies (with special focus on Palestine, Kashmir), is member of European Consortium of Political Research (ECPR), including the Washington Foreign Law Society/American Society of International Law.
