Not A Single Drop
An international tribunal ordered India on Monday to "observe its obligations" under a treaty with Pakistan on the sharing of the Indus and other rivers, which the New Delhi government sought to suspend. The Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague also made an order prohibiting India from carrying out works at two hydroelectric projects that could breach the 1960 Indus Water Treaty.
The treaty governs the use of water from six rivers, whose headwaters originate in India but flow into Pakistan as part of the Indus basin, a resource relied on by hundreds of millions. The Indus cuts through ultra-sensitive demarcation lines between India and Pakistan in contested, Muslim-majority Kashmir, a Himalayan territory both countries claim in full.
India said in May 2025 that it was suspending its membership of the treaty after accusing Islamabad of backing a deadly attack on tourists on the Indian side of Kashmir. Pakistan denied the charges. New Delhi immediately rejected the court's decision. "India categorically rejects its so-called award, just as it has firmly rejected all prior pronouncements by this illegally constituted body," the foreign ministry said. "India's decision to hold the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance remains in force."
Act of war
Pakistan welcomed the tribunal's decision, as well as interim measures requiring India to pause work on a dam wall and provide regular construction updates until an expert gives a final ruling expected next year. Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar said the decision "vindicates Pakistan's consistent position that a binding international treaty cannot be unilaterally suspended or set aside."
India's Water Minister C.R. Patil said this year that the government would ensure that "not a single drop of water" will flow into Pakistan, which accused India of seeking to "weaponise" the precious resource. Pakistan has previously said it would consider any attempt to change the flow of cross-border waterways as an "act of war."
The court said it had unanimously found that "none of the grounds" put forward by India to suspend the treaty were justified. The Indus Waters Treaty remains fully in force, the panel said.