Overview
- The Permanent Court of Arbitration ruled in May 2026 that the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty remains legally binding and that India cannot unilaterally suspend the agreement.
- India has kept the treaty in 'abeyance' since April 2025 and says normal IWT cooperation will resume only after Pakistan takes verifiable action against cross‑border terrorism.
- Pakistan rejects the abeyance, convened a government seminar to defend the IWT in law and science, and warned that stopped data sharing harms flood forecasting, farming and power generation.
- The Pakistan Army at a July corps commanders’ conference pledged to take 'all necessary measures' to secure the country’s water share and reaffirmed an NSC directive that stopping or diverting water could be treated as an act of war.
- The dispute raises a direct human risk because 80–90% of Pakistan’s irrigated farming depends on the western rivers, and analysts say withheld hydrological data and accelerated upstream works could worsen food, energy and flood hazards and escalate regional tensions.