Citing cross-border terrorism, India seeks Indus treaty review

India has served a notice to Pakistan for a review and modification of the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty (IWT), calling upon Islamabad to begin negotiations with the Indian government for the same. While India had issued a similar notice for IWT modification last year too, it has cited on this occasion the impact of what official sources called persistent cross-border terrorism as one of the reasons for seeking a review of the World Bank-backed Treaty that has remained invulnerable so far to major and frequent disruptions in bilateral ties.


The fresh notice follows the recent terror attacks in Jammu, after which PM Narendra Modi had accused Pakistan of using terrorism and “proxy war” to remain relevant. However, the trigger for first seeking a modification last year was Pakistan’s “intransigence and unilateral actions” on the issue of Kishenganga and Ratle hydroelectric projects in J&K. India has been upset that despite the World Bank asking both countries to find a mutually agreeable way to look into Pakistan's objections to the projects, Islamabad had unilaterally sought a parallel process to address the issue.


According to official sources, India’s notification highlights “fundamental and unforeseen changes in circumstances” that require a reassessment of obligations under various Articles of the Treaty. “Among various concerns, important ones include change in population demographics; environmental issues; need to accelerate development of clean energy to meet India’s emission targets and impact of persistent cross border terrorism,” said a source on condition of anonymity.


The IWT provides a framework for irrigation and hydropower development, allocating western rivers (Indus, Jhelum, Chenab) to Pakistan and the eastern rivers (Ravi, Beas, Sutlej) to India.
As the World Bank says, the Treaty also allows each country certain uses of the rivers allocated to the other.


The notice was served to Pakistan on August 30 in line with Article XII(3) of the IWT. Under the Article, according to Indian authorities, the Treaty provisions can be modified by a duly ratified agreement between the 2 governments. The notification disclosure coincided with the first round of voting in the J&K assembly elections.

Government sources also said the notification was issued against the backdrop of the prolonged dispute over the Kishenganga and Ratle Hydro Projects. The World Bank in October 2022 appointed not just a neutral expert that India sought to examine the issue but also, at Pakistan's insistence, a Court of Arbitration chairman, despite acknowledging India's concern that carrying out the two processes concurrently posed practical and legal challenges. The Indian side has, therefore, also called for reconsideration of dispute resolution mechanism under the Treaty, said a source. India has not joined the Court of Arbitration meetings, as it believes it was constituted illegally.


India had in June this year hosted a delegation from Pakistan on water-related bilateral issues under the IWT, which requires the two sides to meet at least once every year, alternately in India and Pakistan. Indus talks backed by the World Bank have not been affected by the turbulent India-Pakistan relations that have otherwise not seen any substantive bilateral engagement between them in the past 9 years, or since the Pathankot terror attack. Pakistan has invited India to the SCO heads of government meeting it will host next month, raising hopes of a high-level visit from India but the Indian government, which is unlikely to skip the meeting because it’s a multilateral event, is yet to take a call on the level of participation.