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.