In the hierarchy of human needs, water sits at the very base - more immediate than food, more urgent than shelter, and utterly non-negotiable for life. To deliberately cut off drinking water to civilians during an ethnic conflict is not merely a tactical decision; it is an act that collapses the boundary between warfare and cruelty. It transforms a basic necessity into a weapon, punishing the vulnerable for circumstances they neither created nor control.
From a legal standpoint, such actions are profoundly indefensible. International humanitarian law, particularly the Geneva Conventions and their Additional Protocols, explicitly prohibit targeting objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population. Water systems - pipelines, reservoirs, wells - fall squarely within this protection. See a Thangkhul woman cutting drinking water supply line mean for the Kuki village
