There are moments in diplomacy when the real success is not in the speech delivered, the resolution passed or the photograph released. It is in the discomfort created on the other side. By that measure, the international seminar on the Indus Waters Treaty held in Islamabad was not a routine policy event. It was a […]
Indus Waters
SPECIAL FEATURE REPORT INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR: “INDUS WATERS TREATY: AN INSTRUMENT OF PEACE & REGIONAL STABILITY”
On the hottest day of the pre-monsoon week, the Jinnah Convention Centre filled with a rare mix: retired diplomats, glacier scientists, irrigation engineers, Sindh farmers, law students, and international observers. The banner above the stage read “Indus Waters Treaty: An Instrument of Peace & Regional Stability.” For six hours, the seminar convened by the Ministry […]
India’s “Abeyance” of the Indus Waters Treaty: Legal Erosion and Environmental Neglect
The Indus Waters Treaty (IWT), mediated by the World Bank in 1960 between India and Pakistan, has for six decades been one of the world’s most cited examples of enduring transboundary water cooperation. The treaty allocates the eastern rivers (Ravi, Beas, Sutlej) to India and grants primary rights over the western rivers (Indus, Jhelum, Chenab) […]
The Indus Waters Verdict: What Lies Ahead
With the Permanent Court of Arbitration’s landmark decision on the Indus Waters Treaty, two questions arise: first, what is the significance of this decision? Second, what implications will it carry? Pakistan’s position was clear. Under Article 26 of the 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, no bilateral agreement can be suspended unilaterally. The […]
Indus Waters and the Post-Pahalgam Legal Questions
It has been one year since India’s Pahalgam false flag operation. Using this incident as a pretext, India first targeted Pakistan’s security, and when it failed to achieve its objectives, it proceeded to suspend the Indus Waters Treaty. Here come two key questions to the fore. First, if the incident was not in fact a […]
The Erosion of Indus Waters Treaty! The Human & Legal Crisis in Indus Basin
For over six decades, the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) of 1960 stood as a global benchmark for transboundary water governance. It survived three major wars, numerous border skirmishes, and decades of diplomatic frost. However, a series of recent unilateral actions by India, ranging from legal suspensions to massive upstream infrastructure expansion, has pushed the treaty […]