New Delhi : India has hardened its position on the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT), asserting that the 65-year-old agreement cannot continue in its existing form and would require a complete overhaul before any future implementation. The tougher stance comes amid growing criticism from Pakistan over India’s decision to suspend the treaty.
In recent months, Pakistan’s political and military leadership has repeatedly warned of serious consequences, including the possibility of war and even nuclear escalation, if India were to completely stop the flow of river waters. They stressed that if water-sharing arrangements are ever restored, they would have to be negotiated under a revised framework rather than the existing treaty. “The Indus Waters Treaty in its present form will not function again.
Any reactivation of river water-sharing provisions will require a different arrangement, and only if Pakistan completely abandons terrorism,” a source said. Another official added that India has seen no evidence of Pakistan taking meaningful steps to curb cross-border terrorism, making any revival of the pact unlikely under current circumstances.
Responding to questions about whether India could formally exit the treaty, another source said the decision would depend on Pakistan’s future actions. India suspended the Indus Waters Treaty after the April 2025 Pahalgam terror attack, in which 26 civilians were killed, as part of a broader set of diplomatic and economic measures against Pakistan.
Indian authorities have blamed the attack on The Resistance Front, which they describe as a proxy of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba. In response, India launched Operation Sindoor in May, targeting terrorist infrastructure inside Pakistan. Brokered by the World Bank and signed in 1960, the Indus Waters Treaty allocates the eastern rivers — Ravi, Beas and Sutlej — to India, while Pakistan has rights over the western rivers — Indus, Jhelum and Chenab.
India has long argued that the treaty requires changes, accusing Pakistan of obstructing its legitimate development projects while failing to follow the treaty’s prescribed dispute-resolution mechanism. Officials said Islamabad initially sought the appointment of a neutral expert in 2015 over objections to the Kishanganga and Ratle hydropower projects but later reversed its position and demanded a Court of Arbitration.
Although the World Bank appointed both a neutral expert and a Court of Arbitration in 2016, India recognised only the neutral expert process and refused to participate in the arbitration proceedings, maintaining that the treaty does not permit parallel dispute-resolution mechanisms.
According to the sources, Pakistan has consistently objected to nearly every Indian project on the western rivers, regardless of its scale or technical specifications. Even a small 200-kilowatt hydropower project intended to supply electricity to a remote tribal area faced prolonged objections.
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