Introduction

 Indus Water Treaty was signed in 1960 between the then Indian Prime Minister Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru and the President of Pakistan Ayub Khan. This treaty was initiated after the mediation of World Bank for the purpose of uses of water from the Indus river and its five tributaries. These rivers are situated in the western and eastern part of the Pakistan. These are as under:-

(a)      The Indus River

(i)      The Jhelam

(ii)     The Chinab

(iii)    The Sutlej

(iv)    The Beas

(v)     The Ravi

The Indus River, The Jhelam and The Chinab comes under the Western part and the remaining other three as The Sutlej, The Beas and The Ravi are in the Eastern side of Pakistan. 

The Treaty

This treaty prescribes water distribution from the Indus River and its five other tributaries between India and Pakistan. It defines the allocation of three “Western Rivers” including Indus rivers to Pakistan for unrestricted use and the limited uses of water by India. As per this treaty India also can use max of 20% of the water of western rivers for agricultural and domestic use. This means that 80% of the share of water went to Pakistan while remain 20% can be used by India for the purpose of agriculture and domestic. However, the three Eastern rivers allocated to India for unrestricted usage. 

Issue

Recently, as per the claim raised by Pakistan. The World Bank appointed a team to investigate the treaty. The World Bank got information that the Hydroelectric Projects are under construction in Jammu and Kashmir. The complaint was made by Pakistan. On top that recently on 25th Apr 2025 a terrorist attack has been happened in which at least 26 people have ruthlessly been killed. Two of those five terrorist has been identified as they were from Pakistan. Rather than the co-operation to identify the terrorist, Pakistan was provoking India. Even Pakistan did not invite India for investigation, did cease fire and illogical comments.

Effect/ Impact of Discontinuation of IWT on Both Countries

India.        If India stop the flow of water to Pakistan, definitely some extra dams are required to constructed there at Jammu and Kashmir. Because sudden increasing of water can cause of flood. However, India is constructing several dams in Jammu and Kashmir and the The two Hydroelectric Projects are under construction.

Pakistan.     Pakistan is geographically dependent on the Indus River for agriculture. Particularly the Punjab and Sindh will definitely face drought. There will be food crisis. Food will be required to brought from the other countries. On top of that, due to the food and water deficit the availability of camp and military bases will be decrease at the border line area. The limited military camp and the presence of military will be very bad for Pakistan. 

CONCLUSION

Geographically, India is on the positive perspective, India can stop the water as it has just done after the incident of Pahalgam Jammu and Kashmir. On the other hand, India is required to be made a lot of dams and some power projects so that the storage of stopped water can be utilised rather than the flood in India. In spite of all these things, it is also required to maintain the world Bank and the other neighbors like China.

Subscribe to Notifications