About Indus Water Treaty (IWT):

• The Indus Water Treaty (IWT) is a water-distribution treaty signed on September 19th, 1960 between India and Pakistan.
• The treaty was signed by Jawaharlal Nehru, the then Prime Minister of India, and Ayub Khan, President of Pakistan.
• The World Bank (International Bank for Reconstruction and Development) orchestrated the Indus water Treaty.
• This agreement took 9 years of negotiations.
• It splits the regulation of six rivers between the two countries. 3 of the rivers are in control of India and the other 3 under Pakistan.
• Beas, Ravi, Sutlej (Eastern River) rivers are in control of India whereas Indus, Chenab, and Jhelum (Western River) are in control of Pakistan.
  
• Under the treaty concluded between India and Pakistan in 1960, all waters of the three eastern rivers were allocated to India for exclusive use.
• The area was a total of about 33 million acre-feet (MAF).
• India has also been granted the right to produce hydroelectricity through projects “run of the river (RoR)” on the western rivers.
• A Permanent Indus Commission for the implementation and management of the Treaty was created as a bilateral body.
• Indus originated in Tibet, China so has been left out of the Treaty.

 

Importance of Indus water Treaty for Pakistan:

• Indus, Chenab, and Jhelum are Pakistan’s lifelines, as the country is heavily dependent on these rivers for their water supply.
• These rivers do not originate in Pakistan but flow through India into the region, Pakistan is afraid of the danger of drought and famine.
• Chenab and Jhelum originate from India.
• Indus originates from China, flowing through India moves to Pakistan.

 

Importance of Indus water treaty for Pakistan:

• This treaty allows India to use only 20 percent of the total water carried by the Indus river.
• India has constructed the Bhakra Dam on Satluj, Pong and Pandoh Dam on Beas and Thein (Ranjitsagar) on Ravi to use the waters of the Eastern rivers allocated to India for exclusive use.
• Beas-Sutlej Link, Madhopur-Beas Link, and Indira Gandhi Nahar Project helped India use almost all i.e. 95% of the eastern river waters’ share.

The unilateral revocation of the Indus water treaty as a nonwar strategy will create the following problems:

• In spite of its positional advantage, India has never used water as a military tool, even in times of war.
• It can deteriorate bilateral relation.
• Article 54 of Protocol I to the Geneva Convention forbids acts which threaten civilians. 65 percent of Pakistan ‘s territory belongs to the Indus basin, making it completely dependent on the river.
• Dhaka, Kathmandu, or Thimphu can see India as a state of unilateralism. India wants to be seen as open to benefit-sharing. Only then does it recognize India’s leadership.

Yet India shouldn’t be seen as a soft state. India needs to targetedly take the fight against terrorism and against terrorist organizations. The fight against Pakistan can be taken institutionally in U.N India. India will seek to diplomatically isolate Pakistan using regional groupings such as BIMSTEC.

Water is an essential commodity. Because of its scarcity, the poor would be most affected. Therefore the use of the Indus water treaty would be against India’s ethic.