Hague arbitration panel says India must honor water-sharing treaty with Pakistan

ISLAMABAD (AP) — India must honor a decades-old water-sharing treaty with Pakistan that New Delhi wanted to suspend, an international arbitration panel in The Hague ruled Monday. Pakistan welcomed the decision but India rejected it.

Acting on Pakistan’s application, the panel prohibited India from pouring concrete beyond specified levels on a hydroelectric plant it is building in disputed Kashmir. The restrictions will remain in effect until 90 days after a World Bank-appointed neutral expert decides whether the project’s design complies with the Indus Waters Treaty.

The expert’s final decision is expected in July 2027. The decision is seen as a big win for Pakistan.

Pakistan's government in a statement said the findings reaffirmed India’s obligations under the treaty and showed that temporary restrictions on the Ratle dam project were warranted. It expressed hope that the rulings could help the countries resume engagement under the treaty in accordance with their legal obligations.

India’s Ministry of External Affairs called the panel an “illegally constituted” body and said India had never recognized its legal authority or participated in its proceedings. The ministry said the tribunal had been established in violation of the treaty and that New Delhi’s decision to hold the agreement in abeyance remained in force.

In a summary of its decisions, the Court of Arbitration said the 1960 treaty remains legally binding and contains no provision allowing either country to suspend or terminate it unilaterally. Ending or changing the agreement would require another treaty accepted by both governments, the panel said.

India must therefore continue meeting its obligations, including restrictions on the design and operation of hydroelectric projects on rivers that flow into Pakistan, it said.

Brokered by the World Bank, the treaty allocates waters of the eastern Ravi, Sutlej and Beas rivers to India and most of the water from the western Indus, Jhelum and Chenab rivers to Pakistan. India is permitted limited uses of the western rivers, including construction of run-of-river hydroelectric plants under specified conditions.

The agreement endured wars and prolonged periods of hostility between the nuclear-armed neighbors and was widely regarded as one of their most resilient bilateral arrangements.

Pakistan, which relies heavily on the Indus River system for agriculture and other needs, has warned that interference with its water supplies could have serious consequences for regional peace and security.

India announced in April 2025 that it was placing the treaty in abeyance after gunmen killed 26 people, mostly tourists, in Indian-controlled Kashmir, which is divided between the two countries and claimed by both in its entirety.

New Delhi accused Pakistan of supporting cross-border terrorism and said the treaty would remain suspended until Islamabad “credibly and irrevocably” ended that alleged support. Pakistan denied involvement in the attack and offered to participate in an independent investigation.

The attack triggered a sharp deterioration in relations. The countries downgraded diplomatic and trade ties, closed their main land border crossing and revoked visas before exchanging military strikes in May 2025. A ceasefire ended four days of fighting, but relations have remained largely frozen.

The arbitration panel rejected India’s position. It found that the allegations, even if assumed to be true, would not constitute a material breach of the water treaty because the agreement does not address terrorism or the use of force.

The panel also rejected possible grounds for suspension involving national sovereignty, changing circumstances, population growth, demand for clean energy, advances in dam technology and climate change. None met the strict requirements for suspending or terminating a treaty under international law, it said.

Saaliq reported from New Delhi, India.