Claim

India has not fully stopped water flow to Pakistan; the change is that India now uses water for its own needs first and releases only the leftover, rather than releasing water as per the treaty.

“अब नदी को आप समेट तो सकते नहीं... बदला यह है कि पहले भारत अपनी जरूरत को पूरा कर देता है। फिर जो बचा कुचा पानी होता है वह छोड़ देता है।”

Rationale

The claim's headline assertion — that India has not fully stopped water to Pakistan — is accurate: India lacks the storage and diversion infrastructure to halt the western rivers (Chenab, Jhelum, Indus), which remain run-of-the-river with only ~15 days of storage, so water keeps flowing. However, the explanatory framing that India 'now uses water for its own needs first and releases only the leftover' overstates India's current capacity and mischaracterizes the mechanism. As of July 2026, most water reaches Pakistan because India cannot capture or store it, not because India deliberately takes its share first and passes on a remainder. India's post-abeyance actions have been reservoir flushing and localized flow fluctuations, and the capacity to prioritize its own use is a $60bn future build-out, not present reality. The statement mixes a true fact with a misleading characterization of India's present control over allocation.

Evidence

• https://www.csis.org/analysis/can-india-cut-pakistans-indus-river-lifeline CSIS: 'In the near term, India does not possess the infrastructure necessary to prevent the Indus's flows from reaching its neighbor.' India's treaty-limited storage on the western rivers is only ~15 days and its dams are run-of-the-river with little storage — so the first half of the claim (water not fully stopped) is correct, but India cannot yet meaningfully withhold most of the flow to 'meet its own needs first.' ✓ reachable · archived
• https://www.dawn.com/news/1977295 India's planned $60bn storage push would raise Chenab/Jhelum storage from ~15 days to 55–60 days — confirming that the ability to prioritize Indian use and release only surplus is a future aspiration, not the present operational reality as of the broadcast date. ✓ reachable · archived
• https://www.isas.nus.edu.sg/papers/the-indus-waters-treaty-a-year-after-the-pahalgam-terror-attack/ A year after the April 2025 abeyance, water still flows to Pakistan; India's actions have been reservoir flushing (Salal, Baglihar), short-term Chenab stoppages/fluctuations and desilting — not a systematic 'use-first-then-release-leftover' regime. ✗ unreachable · HTTP 200
• https://www.dawn.com/news/2011838 Pakistan's Indus commissioner reports only fluctuations in Chenab flow since April 2025, not a cutoff — corroborating that water continues to reach Pakistan (accurate part of claim) while contradicting the notion India now controls allocation and releases only leftovers. ✓ reachable · archived