As India serves notice over Indus Water Treaty, Pakistan urges New Delhi to honour pact's provisions

After India served notice to Pakistan over the Indus Water Treaty (IWT), the neighbouring country has urged New Delhi to honour the treaty’s provision.

India on August 30 served a formal notice to Pakistan to seek a review of the IWT.

Weeks after India’s notice, Pakistan Foreign Office (FO) has urged India to respect the treaty’s provisions.

“Pakistan considers the Indus Water Treaty as an important one and hopes that India will also comply with its provisions,” said Pakistan FO Spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch, according to PTI.

Baloch further pointed that there exists the mechanism of Indus Water Commissioners under which all the issues related to the treaty can be discussed. She added that any measures to address any concerns about the treaty must be taken within the provisions of the agreement.

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India and Pakistan signed the IWT in 1960 to manage the cross-border rivers. The treaty was facilitated by the World Bank and is one of the few pacts between the two nations that have survived wars and decades of tensions rooted in Pakistan-based terrorism directed at India.

India’s notice to Pakistan over IWT last month was rooted in “fundamental and unforeseen” changes, according to PTI.

These changes were related to population demographics and environmental issues, said sources in the Indian establishment to the news agency.

The other concerns driving the notice were the need to accelerate the development of clean energy to meet India’s emission targets and the impact of persistent cross border terrorism, according to the agency.

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In January 2023, India had similarly sent a notice to Pakistan to seek a review. The agency further reported that India’s annoyance with the World Bank, which is part of the treaty, for running two parallel processes for dispute resolution is also behind seeking a review.

India and Pakistan have long been at odds over the Kishanganga and Ratle hydro projects. To resolve the differences, the World Bank has appointed a neutral expert and a chair of the Court of Arbitration and India has not taken kindly to it. India has not cooperated with the arbitration proceedings.

New Delhi considers that starting two concurrent processes to resolve the dispute violates the provision of the three-step graded mechanism prescribed in the IWT and therefore India has been pushing for the resolution of the dispute through the neutral-expert proceedings, reported PTI.

The news agency further reported sources as saying that, in line with this approach, India has sought government-to-government negotiations with Pakistan through the August 30 notice to review the treaty under the provisions of Article XII (3).