Context: In the wake of the deadly terrorist attack in Pahalgam, India has announced that the Indus Waters Treaty of 1960 will be held in abeyance with immediate effect, until Pakistan credibly and irrevocably abjures its support for cross-border terrorism.
Relevance of the topic:
Prelims: Key facts about Indus Water Treaty; Dispute Resolution Mechanism in IWT.
Mains: Issues associated with the Indus Water Treaty.
Indus Water Treaty (IWT)
- Indus Waters Treaty is a water-sharing agreement between India and Pakistan, signed in 1960, facilitated by the World Bank.
- Sharing of water as per IWT: It provides India 20% of the water from the Indus River System and the rest 80% to Pakistan.
- Eastern rivers: Ravi, Beas, and Sutlej were allocated to India for unrestricted use.
- Western rivers: Indus, Jhelum, and Chenab were allocated largely to Pakistan. India is permitted certain agricultural uses and can build 'run of the river' hydropower projects with limited storage.
- Permanent Indus Commission (PIC): Commissioners are appointed by both countries for cooperation and information exchange regarding their use of the rivers.
Significance of putting the Treaty on Hold for India:
The decision to suspend the IWT gives various options to India on how to use the waters of the Indus river system.
- India can immediately stop sharing water flow data with Pakistan. There will be no design or operational restrictions on India for the use of the water of the Indus and its tributaries.
- India can now create storage on the Western Rivers, Indus, Jhelum and Chenab.
- India can undertake reservoir flushing (a technique used to remove accumulated sediment from reservoirs by releasing water through low-level outlets to scour out the sediment and transport it downstream) on the Kishenganga project, which will increase the life of the dam.
- India can stop visits by Pakistani officials to the two hydroelectric projects currently under construction in Jammu & Kashmir — the Kishenganga HEP on Kishenganga, a tributary of the Jhelum, and the Ratle HEP on the Chenab.
Limited Options for Pakistan
- The Indus Waters Treaty lacks an exit clause, meaning neither India nor Pakistan can legally abrogate it unilaterally. The Treaty has no end date, and any modification requires the consent of both parties.
- While the Treaty cannot be exited, it contains a dispute resolution mechanism that lays out procedures for raising grievances — first before the Permanent Indus Commission, then a neutral expert, and eventually, a forum of arbitrators. However, arbitration may not offer much recourse if India chooses not to follow the Treaty.
- In case India ‘revokes’ the treaty, the dispute resolution mechanism will be of no use and assistance to Pakistan. It is limited to a dispute under the treaty and not meant to provide for specific performance of the treaty itself.
- Since there is no provision in the IWT about its duration or suspension, there is no avenue that Pakistan can approach for ‘revival’ of the treaty. Nor can Pakistan approach the International Court of Justice seeking specific performance to implement the Treaty because of the Indian reservation given under the ICJ statute that bars the filing of a case by Pakistan against India.
Also Read: World Bank Neutral Expert supports India’s stand on IWT
However, the suspension of IWT will not have an immediate impact on the flow of water to Pakistan for a few years at least. India does not currently have the infrastructure to either stop the flow of water into Pakistan, or to divert it for its own use.