Overview
- On Tuesday Indian Water Minister C.R. Patil said the government is working to ensure “not a single drop” of Indus-system water will flow to Pakistan in the coming years while New Delhi says the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty is in abeyance.
- India’s foreign ministry has rejected a recent Hague Court of Arbitration award as invalid and maintains it will not recognise the tribunal’s decisions, deepening the dispute over the treaty’s legal mechanisms.
- Pakistan’s Foreign Office warned that any deliberate obstruction of upstream flows would be treated as an act of war and said Islamabad will use diplomatic, legal and other means to protect its water rights.
- Media reports and Pakistani officials say India has floated a tender for a Chenab–Beas link tunnel and announced sediment works on Chenab projects, but technical assessments and officials say any true diversion or stoppage would take years to build and cannot be done immediately with existing dams.
- Water experts and regional seminars say holding the treaty in abeyance risks ending routine data sharing and joint oversight, which would turn hydrological information into a strategic asset and increase long-term risks to Pakistani irrigation, urban supply and food security.