An international tribunal on Monday ordered India to continue complying with its obligations under the Indus Waters Treaty with Pakistan, despite New Delhi’s move to suspend the agreement. The ruling adds a new dimension to the long-standing water dispute between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.
The Permanent Court of Arbitration, based in The Hague, also directed India to halt work on two hydroelectric projects that could potentially breach provisions of the 1960 treaty. The decision follows concerns over India’s development of projects on rivers covered by the agreement and their possible impact on water flows into Pakistan.
The Indus Waters Treaty, brokered by the World Bank, governs the sharing of water from six rivers within the Indus river system. While India controls the sources of the rivers, several of them flow downstream into Pakistan, making the treaty a critical framework for managing water resources between the two countries.
The agreement has remained an important element of India-Pakistan relations for decades, despite repeated political and security tensions. The latest tribunal order could further intensify the dispute, particularly as both countries rely heavily on the Indus basin for agriculture, electricity generation and other economic activities, with hundreds of millions of people dependent on its waters.
