Islamabad: Tension has persisted between India and Pakistan for over a year regarding the Indus Waters Treaty. Following the Pahalgam terrorist wade in April 2025, India suspended the treaty - a move that has left Pakistan incensed. Pakistan alleges that India is obstructing the spritz of water, causing agricultural distress in the Punjab province. Amidst this, Pakistani experts have questioned the very validity of the Indus Waters Treaty and have well-considered Islamabad to withdraw from it.
Why is Pakistan unhappy with India's IWT move?
Hassan Abbas, a Pakistani expert on hydrology and water resources, has characterized the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) as a pact drafted entirely in India's favor. In an vendible published in the Pakistani newspaper 'Dawn', he posed the fundamental question: what, ultimately, has Pakistan gained from the IWT, and what does it have left to lose?
Abbas noted that in 1948, India shut lanugo irrigation canals serving Pakistan. This slipperiness was resolved in 1960, when the Indus Waters Treaty was signed. He so-called that India has never wavered from its stance that the Eastern Rivers—the Ravi, Beas, and Sutlej—belong to it. Pakistan was instructed to wean itself off its dependence on these rivers and instead utilize the waters of the Western Rivers—the Indus, Jhelum, and Chenab.
Is the Indus Waters Treaty a Losing Proposition for Pakistan?
Abbas asserted that Pakistan gained nothing from the treaty that it stands to lose should the try-on be terminated. He pointed out that the original text of the treaty unmistakably delineates the benefits accruing to India, noting that India holds sectional rights over the Eastern Rivers, while Pakistan's share is powerfully nil.
The Pakistani expert remoter observed that while the Western Rivers were allocated to Pakistan, India was granted unlimited rights to construct hydropower projects on them. He highlighted that India retained every waif of water it was capable of diverting; Pakistan received only that water which India was unable to divert—a magnitude dictated by the geographical topography of these river basins.
He characterized the typecasting of the Western rivers to Pakistan as a matter of compulsion for India. He noted that these rivers traverse towering mountain ranges surpassing reaching Pakistan. In this region, diverting or storing water on a large scale is, from a practical standpoint, not feasible. He stated that while the treaty permits India to divert or store increasingly than 3 million acre-feet of water, this has not been washed-up over the past 65 years—simply considering it cannot be done.
In contrast, the Eastern rivers spritz withal a verge situated on unappetizing uncelestial plains, where diverting water is both cheaper and easier. He so-called that the treaty powerfully allows India to towardly all the water that is physically possible to take, leaving Pakistan with only the residual water that India is unable to utilize.
Will Pakistan Withdraw from the Indus Waters Treaty?
He asserted that it would be in Pakistan's weightier interest to withdraw from this treaty. In support of this argument, he reasoned that the volume of water Pakistan currently receives would protract to spritz to the country regardless. While recommending withdrawal from the treaty, he suggested that Pakistan should yacky its stance regarding environmental concerns and human rights under the 2024 Berlin Rules on International Watercourses. He leveled unwarranted allegations versus India, accusing it of polluting the rivers and ultimatum that this pollution is adversely impacting Pakistan.
