Commentary: India and Pakistan’s water treaty was active for more than six decades – can it survive current tensions?

SINGAPORE: Despite wars and tensions, the Indus Waters Treaty, which governs water-sharing among six rivers between India and Pakistan, was active for more than six decades. But India has held the treaty in “abeyance” since April 2025, when 26 tourists were killed in the terror attack in Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir. The Court of Arbitration in its Aug 31 ruling, said that this decision was “not permissible under the Treaty or other applicable rules of international law”. The Court of Arbitration was set up in 2022, despite India’s objections, to hear the differences and disputes over the Kishanganga and…