Following the April 22, 2025, terrorist assault in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, which claimed 26 lives, including one foreign individual, India suspended the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT).
Following investigations that showed cross-border connections to the attack, the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS), India’s top national security authority, made this judgment. Given that the IWT, which was mediated by the World Bank and signed in 1960, has withstood wars and diplomatic crises for 64 years, the suspension represents a dramatic change in India’s strategy toward Pakistan.
The Indus Waters Treaty divides India’s and Pakistan’s rights over the use of six rivers in the Indus Basin. The western rivers, the Indus, Jhelum, and Chenab, belong to Pakistan, whereas the eastern rivers, the Ravi, Beas, and Sutlej, are solely under Indian authority.
India was permitted to use the western rivers for non-consumptive uses like hydropower under the terms of the treaty, but it was not permitted to obstruct or materially change the flow of water to Pakistan. India lifts these restrictions by suspending the pact, restoring authority over water flows that are essential to Pakistan’s energy and agricultural industries.
Nearly 90% of Pakistan’s irrigation depends on water from the western rivers, making the country highly reliant on the Indus River system. In Pakistan’s agricultural heartlands, the suspension of the pact poses a threat to the water supply, which might worsen water scarcity, lower crop yields, and lead to socioeconomic unrest, particularly in the Punjab and Sindh provinces. India’s action, which for the first time in decades openly links water diplomacy to security concerns, is a calculated attempt to put pressure on Pakistan to stop supporting cross-border terrorism.
Until Pakistan “credibly and irreversibly” stops supporting terrorism, the pact will stay suspended, according to India’s administration. All treaty-related collaboration, including technical meetings, data exchanges, and water flow alerts, will be suspended as part of this suspension.
Following a meeting with important ministries and officials led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the decision indicated a concerted and decisive response to the Pahalgam incident. Although Pakistan has not yet responded formally to the action, it is anticipated that it would result in diplomatic escalation and perhaps international intervention, particularly with the World Bank.
An important turning point in Indo-Pak relations was India’s suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty, which turned a long-standing water-sharing arrangement into a weapon of geopolitical pressure in the fight against terrorism. It highlights how national security and water security are becoming more intertwined in the area, which has important ramifications for Pakistan’s economy, agriculture, and diplomatic standing.