Overview
- India placed the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance after the April 22, 2025 Pahalgam terror attack and New Delhi has kept the suspension in place while citing security concerns.
- On August 2, 2026 Vinay Mohan Kwatra published an opinion in Newsweek defending the abeyance as recognition that Pakistani hostility and cross‑border terrorism eroded the treaty's purpose.
- Kwatra accuses Pakistan of repeatedly blocking Indian hydropower and river projects through legal and bureaucratic delays and of opposing efforts to update the six‑decade old pact to reflect modern engineering and climate realities.
- Pakistan has publicly protested the suspension, holding an Islamabad conference where a former foreign minister reportedly threatened war if Pakistan's demands on the Indus system are not met.
- The pause raises practical risks for regional water security and hydropower development, and New Delhi says normal treaty cooperation will depend on Islamabad credibly dismantling terror infrastructure and addressing implementation disputes.