Experts Support India’s Decision to Keep Indus Waters Treaty in Abeyance
Geneva — International speakers at a conference held on the sidelines of the 63rd session of the UN Human Rights Council on Thursday voiced support for India’s decision to keep the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance, arguing that the move was a legitimate response to Pakistan-sponsored terrorism and changing regional water-security conditions.
The Indus Waters Treaty was signed by India and Pakistan on Sept. 19, 1960, to govern the use of the Indus river system.
India placed the treaty in abeyance following last year’s Pahalgam terror attack, saying the arrangement would remain suspended until Pakistan credibly and irrevocably ends its support for cross-border terrorism.
Speaking at a conference titled “Community Water Rights and the Imperative to Keep the Indus Water Treaty in Abeyance,” Siegfried O. Wolf, Director of Research at the South Asia Democratic Forum in Brussels, said India was within its rights to seek a review of the treaty.
Wolf argued that Pakistan’s conduct had undermined the treaty’s object, purpose and spirit. He also cited what he described as structural imbalances in the agreement, including water allocation, India’s contribution to the Indus Development Fund and restrictions on storage and infrastructure.
He rejected Pakistan’s claims that India was blocking river flows, arguing that Indian hydropower projects on the western rivers are largely non-consumptive and return water downstream after power generation.
London-based human rights activist Arif Aajakia said access to water was a fundamental human right and accused Pakistan’s military establishment of denying adequate water to communities in Sindh through upstream diversions.
Aajakia also cited major terrorist attacks in India, including the 2001 Parliament attack, the 2008 Mumbai attacks, Pulwama and the Pahalgam killings, in arguing that India’s decision to suspend the treaty was justified.
The conference followed a call last week by a Delhi-based NGO for a review of the treaty from a contemporary human-rights perspective.
In an oral statement at the UN Human Rights Council, the group said access to water is closely linked to the rights to life, health, food, housing, dignity and development.
The NGO said the regional water-security environment had changed significantly since the treaty was signed more than six decades ago, citing population growth, climate change, glacier retreat, groundwater depletion and increasingly unpredictable river flows.
It argued that implementation of international water agreements should not prevent countries from meeting their obligations to communities under their jurisdiction.
The group said transboundary water governance should place people, dignity and fundamental rights at the center while continuing to support international cooperation.
