World Bank not informed of India’s decision on Indus Waters Treaty

India’s decision means that it will stop its periodic communication with Pakistan on sharing hydrological data on the Indus rivers, or inform them of infrastructural work on hydro-electric projects in the Western Rivers

The World Bank has not been informed of India’s decision to keep the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) in “abeyance,” sources confirmed to The Hindu. Throughout the history of the treaty, the WB has played a key role as a mediator in cases of disputes arising between India and Pakistan on water sharing agreements, as laid out in the IWT.

On Thursday (April 24, 2025), Debashree Mukherjee, Secretary, Ministry of Water Resources, wrote to her Pakistan counterpart, Syed Ali Murtaza, that India was keeping the treaty in abeyance with “immediate effect.”

Also Read: Pahalgam attack LIVE: Indian, Pakistan forces exchange fire at LoC

“The obligation to honour a treaty in good faith is fundamental to a treaty. However, what we have seen instead is sustained cross-border terrorism by Pakistan targeting the Indian Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir,” her letter says.

The “security uncertainties” have directly impeded India’s “full utilisation rights” and Pakistan’s action of not responding to previous requests by India to renegotiate the treaty was a “breach of trust” on its part.

A Government source told The Hindu that, as Pakistan had been informed about India’s position on the treaty, therefore there was “no need” to inform the WB.

A spokesperson for the WB said that “it did not opine” on “treaty-related sovereign decisions taken by its member countries.”

“The Indus Water Treaty is an agreement between India and Pakistan that has been profoundly important and successful for more than 60 years”, the World Bank spokesperson said, backing the treaty in response to questions from The Hindu. The spokesperson explained that the Bank was only a “signatory to the treaty for a limited set of defined tasks”, when asked if it planned any measures to reverse the suspension. 

Implication of India’s move

Following the Pahalgam attack, India announced on Wednesday (April 23, 2025) that it would hold the IWT, in place since 1960, “in abeyance.” On the surface, this implies that India will stop its periodic communication with Pakistan on sharing hydrological data on the Indus rivers or keep them apprised of infrastructural work on hydro-electric projects in the Chenab, Jhelum and the Indus main, also known as the Western rivers.

However, even prior to the Pahalgam incident, the Permanent Indus Commission – or the teams of experts from India and Pakistan that attempt to resolve disputes regarding the sharing of the waters of the Indus basin – hasn’t convened since 2022.

India in 2023 had called on Pakistan to “renegotiate” the treaty primarily because several of the original circumstances that prevailed when the treaty was formed had changed. Among them were, changes in the population structure, water requirements, the threat from climate-related cataclysms and ‘cross border terrorism’ were among the reasons India cited to renegotiate the six-decade-old treaty.

The main ask was to evolve a new dispute resolution mechanism.

Terms of IWT

Under the terms of the IWT, India cannot create significant hydropower storage on the Western rivers – Indus, Jhelum, Chenab – and must maintain water levels at prescribed levels, to ensure that no untoward flooding or disruption of Pakistan’s agriculture happens.

Its prominent hydropower projects on these rivers such as the Kishenganga project, Baglihar project are run-of-the river, meaning diverting the flow of the river to generate electricity. These projects do not halt the flow of the river via creating storage structures, though in nearly all of the disputes over the years regarding developing hydropower projects, Pakistan has accused India of modifying the design of structures to be able to perniciously control the flows of the rivers with India then clarifying that its intentions were purely to keep the projects running in optimal conditions.

“For India to weaponise the waters of the Indus, it has to completely ignore the IWT. Under the current terms of the treaty, this can’t be done,” a scientist affiliated to the Central Water Commission.

Following the Pahalgam attack, sources have told The Hindu that India will explore “options that it has never considered” under the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT). This could include withdrawing from talks around evolving a new ‘Dispute Resolution Mechanism,’ change the design of its hydropower electric projects to allow it to store greater quantities of water and deploy ‘draw down flushing’ of its reservoirs.

Flushing, normally done to keep the water-bearing tunnels free from silt and debris, can also be used to control the flow of rivers downstream. Nearly 80% of Pakistan’s agriculture depends on water from the Western rivers.

Published - April 25, 2025 10:00 am IST