The Indus Waters Treaty—Recurring Conflicts, Non-Participation and Parallel Proceedings in the Kishenganga and Ratle Disputes

The Indus Waters Treaty 1960 signed by India, Pakistan, and the World Bank (Indus Treaty) — negotiated over almost a decade and described as a ​“bright spot” for its balanced approach to riparian interests is now the site of recurring conflicts over India’s development of hydro-electric plants on the ​“Western Rivers” (the Indus, Jhelum, and Chenab), the waters from which India is obliged to ​“let flow” except for ​“restricted” uses including hydro-electric power generation in a manner circumscribed by the Indus Treaty.

In a recent development, two dispute settlement mechanisms under the Indus Treaty have (uniquely) progressed simultaneously, each upholding competence on overlapping issues with the possibility of inconsistent outcomes. That is significant, among others, for a fraying of the tautly balanced Indus Treaty could presage a larger shift in the fractious geopolitics that marks the subcontinent’s hydrological topography.