Overview
- On Thursday Pakistan’s Foreign Office said it had seen a public tender and invited bids for a Chenab–Beas link that it says would transfer about 1.9 million acre-feet of water a year from the Chenab to the Beas.
- Indian project papers reported by journalists describe a proposed Link-3 scheme with a roughly 19-metre barrage and an about 8.7 km conveyance tunnel, and a separate Salal diversion-cum-sediment-bypass tunnel to restore flushing capability.
- The dispute sits against a May 15 supplemental award from the Court of Arbitration that requires India to justify any maximum pondage by actual hydrology, a constraint Pakistan cites in arguing the works exceed permitted operational control.
- New Delhi has rejected the Court of Arbitration rulings and says the Indus Waters Treaty remains in abeyance until Pakistan stops cross-border terrorism, while Islamabad says India has not formally consulted and urges international intervention.
- Conflicting accounts about communications heighten tensions: Pakistan’s foreign ministry says no official notice was shared while a provincial agency says it received an Indian letter about Salal spillway gate activity, and officials warn downstream farmers and the economy could be affected.