Troubled waters: Why the Indus treaty matters

India has suspended the Indus water treaty with Pakistan, potentially affecting water flows, citing the need for renegotiation amid rising tensions.

India’s suspension of the decades-old World Bank-facilitated Indus water treaty with Pakistan could cut large quantity of flows into Pakistan, but this is likely to be a gradual process, depending on what kind of infrastructure projects India might plan in the basin, experts said.

View of boats in the water on the dry riverbed of the Indus River in Hyderabad, Pakistan April 24, 2025. (Reuters)

On Wednesday, India decided to halt the 1960 water-sharing pact, a day after terrorists killed 25 tourists and one local in Kashmir’s Pahalgam, a region famous for its rolling meadows and snow-capped mountains.

The treaty governing