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India Keeps Indus Waters Treaty Suspended as It Pushes New Canal Projects

New Delhi says the pact will stay on hold until Pakistan stops supporting cross-border terrorism

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'World's most lopsided treaty': Brahma Chellaney says Pakistan gets 80.52% of total waters, 100% of western rivers under IWT
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Overview

  • Since suspending the treaty on April 23, India has ignored four formal requests from Pakistan to revive the 1960 water-sharing agreement.
  • The Cabinet Committee on Security approved invoking national security powers to hold the pact in abeyance until Islamabad “credibly and permanently” ends support for terrorism.
  • Pakistan is confronting a severe water shortage that imperils its Kharif season due to extreme summer heat and India’s tighter control of Indus water.
  • The Ministry of Jal Shakti has accelerated water storage and run-of-river schemes and launched a pre-feasibility study for the Chenab-Ravi-Beas-Sutlej link canal to divert up to 20 million acre-feet.
  • Geostrategist Brahma Chellaney calls the treaty lopsided, noting Pakistan’s entitlement to more than 80% of the Indus basin’s total flows.