# Pakistan welcomes tribunal ruling as India rejects Indus Waters Treaty order
Event date: 2026-08-31
An international tribunal in The Hague has said India must continue to observe the Indus Waters Treaty with Pakistan and cannot press ahead with certain hydroelectric works that could breach the pact, setting up another confrontation over one of South Asia’s most sensitive shared resources.
The Permanent Court of Arbitration said in a unanimous decision that the grounds India gave for suspending the treaty were not justified. It also ordered India to stop work at two hydroelectric projects that could violate the 1960 agreement and said construction on projects on the western rivers must conform to the treaty’s design and operating rules.
Pakistan quickly welcomed the ruling. Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said on X that the decision confirmed Pakistan’s view that a binding international treaty cannot be suspended unilaterally. The court also imposed interim measures requiring India to pause work on a dam wall and provide construction updates until an expert gives a final ruling expected next year.
India rejected the award just as quickly. Its foreign ministry said it categorically rejected the decision and said its choice to hold the treaty in abeyance remained in force. That stance follows India’s move in May 2025 to suspend participation after it accused Pakistan of backing a deadly attack on tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir, an allegation Pakistan denied.
The treaty, signed in 1960, governs six rivers in the Indus basin. Their headwaters begin in India and then flow into Pakistan, where they support agriculture, drinking water and energy systems relied on by hundreds of millions of people. The rivers also run through the politically fraught Kashmir region, where both countries claim the territory in full.
Water has long been one of the few areas where India and Pakistan kept a formal framework for cooperation even during periods of severe tension. This ruling shows how fragile that framework has become. The tribunal’s statement said the treaty remains fully in force, while India’s response suggests there is little chance of a quick reconciliation over the dispute.
The issue matters beyond the legal back-and-forth. Water scarcity is already worsening in a region facing climate pressure and population growth, and both countries depend heavily on farming sectors that are vulnerable to shifts in river flows and reservoir management. That is why the treaty has always carried significance far beyond its text: it is not only a legal arrangement but also a guardrail against a deeper geopolitical clash.
For now, however, the two sides are moving in opposite directions. Pakistan is leaning on the ruling as proof that the treaty survives. India is treating it as another external ruling it will not accept. The result is a sharper legal and political battle over the rivers that remain central to life in both countries.
