In a significant development reflecting India’s toughened stance against Pakistan, all gates of the Salal Dam on the Chenab River in Jammu and Kashmir’s Reasi district were closed on Monday, causing a sharp decline in downstream water levels. Meanwhile, water was seen flowing from the Baglihar Dam in Ramban, another key hydroelectric project on the Chenab.
The move, which comes days after the deadly terrorist attack on Indian tourists in Pahalgam, has been widely viewed as part of the Modi government’s escalated response to Pakistan’s continued support for cross-border terrorism.
BJP IT Cell head Amit Malviya praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the decision, posting on X, “It takes political will to make tough decisions in India’s interest… This is the muscular Modi Doctrine. Water and the blood of our citizens cannot flow together.”
Locals in Reasi welcomed the decision. One resident, Dinesh, said, “After what happened in Pahalgam, Pakistan deserves a befitting reply. We are with the government.” Another citizen called the move “a very big achievement,” commending the government for taking decisive action.
The Indus Waters Treaty (IWT)—a long-standing water-sharing agreement between India and Pakistan brokered by the World Bank in 1960—has come under renewed scrutiny following the April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam, one of the deadliest incidents since Pulwama in 2019.
Earlier, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami had supported the government’s decision to put the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance, saying, “Blood and water can’t flow together. Today’s India knows how to maintain both friendship and enmity.”
The Indus Waters Treaty allocates control of the Western Rivers (Indus, Jhelum, Chenab) to Pakistan and the Eastern Rivers (Ravi, Beas, Sutlej) to India, while granting limited use of each other’s rivers. India currently receives only about 20% of the Indus River System’s water under this framework.
As regional tensions mount, the closure of the Salal Dam gates is being seen as a symbolic and strategic warning, signaling India’s readiness to leverage its water resources in response to repeated provocations from across the border.