Pakistan Rejects India’s Narrative on Indus Waters Treaty

Washington (GNP): Pakistan has firmly rejected India’s characterisation of the Indus Waters Treaty as an unfair or one-sided agreement, with Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United States, Rizwan Saeed Sheikh, accusing New Delhi of distorting the treaty’s history, structure and purpose.

In a recently published opinion piece, Sheikh says India has increasingly pushed this narrative since announcing in April 2025 that it would place the treaty in abeyance, arguing the move appears designed to retroactively justify a unilateral decision with no grounding in the treaty or international law.

The ambassador’s rebuttal rests on the treaty’s legal foundations. He stresses that the Indus Waters Treaty is a binding international agreement signed on 19 September 1960, following nearly a decade of negotiations facilitated by the World Bank.

Sheikh rejects the notion that the treaty reflects Indian generosity or a concession to Pakistan, insisting its provisions represent a carefully negotiated balance between the two countries reached through years of diplomatic engagement rather than a one-sided arrangement.

Building on this, Sheikh directly challenges India’s claim that Pakistan has obstructed its hydropower development. He argues Pakistan’s use of the dispute-resolution mechanisms provided under Article IX of the treaty amounts to the exercise of rights explicitly granted under the agreement, not obstruction. India cannot claim the benefits of the treaty’s hydropower provisions while dismissing the technical limitations and dispute procedures built into the same framework, says Sheikh.

This legal argument extends to the question of the treaty’s current standing. According to Sheikh, the agreement contains no clause permitting either country to unilaterally suspend, place in abeyance, or terminate it, meaning India’s April 2025 announcement cannot alter its legal status or remove the rights and obligations it creates. The treaty remains valid, operative and binding, says Sheikh, a position he maintains regardless of the political weight India has placed on its unilateral move.

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Sheikh also pushes back against attempts to tie the treaty to unrelated political and security disputes between the two countries. He argues that allegations concerning terrorism or other bilateral disagreements cannot grant either side a unilateral right to suspend or disregard obligations under an international agreement, since doing so would set a precedent extending well beyond the water-sharing arrangement itself.

Widening the lens beyond bilateral relations, the ambassador warns that weakening the treaty could carry consequences for the broader region, which already faces significant security challenges. He cautions that efforts to weaponise transboundary rivers risk undermining predictability over shared water resources, posing a serious threat to regional peace and stability rather than resolving the underlying dispute.

Sheikh closes by reaffirming Pakistan’s position that it remains committed to implementing the Indus Waters Treaty in both letter and spirit. He calls on India to withdraw its unilateral measures, return to full compliance with its treaty obligations, and make use of the institutional and dispute-resolution mechanisms established under the agreement to address any outstanding issues between the two countries.