India on Tuesday strongly responded to Pakistan's recent efforts to link the Indus Valley Civilisation with its national identity amid the ongoing dispute over the Indus Waters Treaty. External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said that a country accused of supporting cross-border terrorism and religious extremism for decades cannot claim ownership of a diverse cultural heritage.
Pakistan has repeatedly referred to the 5,000-year-old civilisation while criticising India's decision to keep the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) in abeyance following the April 2025 Pahalgam terror attack.
Speaking at the Ministry of External Affairs' weekly media briefing, Jaiswal rejected Islamabad's claims, saying Pakistan's record on terrorism and minority rights was well known.
"Let me put this straight - a country which has been promoting cross-border terrorism, which has been promoting religious fundamentalism and violence for decades, cannot have any claim to any pluralistic cultural legacy. Their abysmal track record on the protection of minorities and their cultural rights makes such desperate attempts look even more phoney," he said.
Pakistan's civilisational narrative
Jaiswal was responding to a question about Pakistan's recent references to the "shared legacy of the Indus Valley Civilisation" during discussions related to the Indus Waters Treaty.
In recent months, Pakistani leaders have increasingly highlighted the ancient civilisation due to the country's historical association with the Indus River. Information and Broadcasting Minister Attaullah Tarar recently described the civilisation as a key foundation of Pakistan's identity.
"When we identify ourselves as Pakistanis, we ask a question as to who we are. And if you go back into history, the Indus Water Civilisation defines us as a people. Whenever I go abroad, I often tell my counterparts that we are the people of the Indus Valley Civilisation. Our identification is that we are people based on the banks and tributaries of the mighty River Indus," Tarar said at a public event.
Similar views have also been expressed by Pakistan Peoples Party chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, who has argued that Pakistan is the "true custodian" of the Indus civilisation because major archaeological sites such as Mohenjo-daro and Harappa are located within its territory.
Escalation of the Indus Waters Treaty dispute
Pakistan's focus on the Indus Valley Civilisation comes amid rising tensions over the Indus Waters Treaty.
India placed the treaty in abeyance after the April 22, 2025 terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam, where 26 civilians were killed. New Delhi stated that the circumstances under which the agreement was signed had fundamentally changed due to Pakistan's alleged support for cross-border terrorism.
A day after the attack, the Cabinet Committee on Security announced several measures against Pakistan, arguing that continued terror activities had altered the conditions under which the treaty was negotiated.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi later summarised India's position by saying, "Blood and water cannot flow together."
Since then, Pakistan has challenged India's decision through diplomatic channels and international platforms, accusing New Delhi of using water as a tool of pressure. Pakistani leaders have also increasingly presented the dispute as a civilisational issue by highlighting Indus Valley heritage.
India has maintained that the treaty cannot be separated from Pakistan's alleged support for terrorism and that any future framework must take into account current realities rather than conditions that existed over six decades ago.
Heritage enters the political narrative
Pakistan's renewed focus on its ancient past represents a shift from the historical narratives it has traditionally emphasised.
Alongside archaeological efforts at Mohenjo-daro, Islamabad has increased efforts to promote heritage sites such as Taxila, Gandhara and Mehrgarh through museum projects, excavations and international campaigns. Officials have presented these locations as symbols of Pakistan's civilisational identity.
Observers believe the move is part of a broader attempt to strengthen Pakistan's position in the Indus Waters Treaty dispute by portraying itself as the main inheritor of the civilisation that developed along the river thousands of years ago.
However, the Indus Valley Civilisation extended across a much larger region than present-day Pakistan. Hundreds of Harappan sites have been discovered in India as well, particularly around the Ghaggar-Hakra basin, leading several Indian scholars to use the term "Indus-Sarasvati Civilisation" to represent its wider geographical spread.
