• Delegations from India and Pakistan reached Jammu & Kashmir’s Kishtwar district with neutral experts and began inspection of two power projects under the Indus Water Treaty (IWT).

• Delegates reached Kishtwar for inspection of various under-construction power projects in the Chenab valley region.

• This is the first visit by a Pakistani delegation to Jammu & Kashmir in more than five years under the dispute settlement mechanism of the 1960 treaty.

• A three-member Pakistan delegation inspected the Pakal Dul and Lower Kalnai hydroelectric power projects under the provisions of the IWT for the last time in January 2019, before the ties between the two countries froze following the revocation of the special status of Jammu & Kashmir.

What is the Indus Water Treaty?

• India and Pakistan share the waters of six rivers — Ravi, Beas, Sutlej, Indus, Chenab and Jhelum. 

• The basin is mainly shared by India and Pakistan with a small share for China and Afghanistan.

• The Indus Waters Treaty was signed in 1960 after nine years of negotiations between India and Pakistan with the help of the World Bank, which is also a signatory. 

• Under the Treaty, the water from the three eastern rivers — Ravi, Sutlej and Beas — averaging around 33 million acre feet (MAF) were allocated to India for exclusive use.

• The water from western rivers — Indus, Jhelum and Chenab — averaging to around 135 MAF were allocated to Pakistan except for specified domestic, non-consumptive and agricultural use permitted to India as provided in the Treaty.

• The Treaty also sets forth distinct procedures to handle issues which may arise: “questions” are handled by the Commission, “differences” are to be resolved by a Neutral Expert, and “disputes” are to be referred to a seven-member arbitral tribunal called the “Court of Arbitration.” 

• As a signatory to the Treaty, the World Bank’s role is limited and procedural.

• The Treaty sets out a mechanism for cooperation and information exchange between the two countries regarding their use of the rivers, known as the Permanent Indus Commission (PIC), which has a commissioner from each country.

• The two commissioners are required to meet at least once every year, alternately in India and Pakistan.

Can India stop water flow to Pakistan?

No. According to the treaty, India has the ability to decrease the water flow to Pakistan. However, any project that could impact water flow requires significant time for implementation due to expenses and objections. Pakistan has raised objections to five Indian hydro power projects and the Wullar Barrage (Tulbul Navigation Project), which must be resolved before India can proceed with them.

Can India walk out of the pact unilaterally?

• The Indus Waters Treaty does not allow either country to unilaterally withdraw from the agreement.

• According to Article XII of the treaty, it states that the provisions of the treaty, or any modifications made under paragraph (3), remain in force until terminated by a mutually ratified treaty between both governments.

• If India wishes to terminate the treaty, it must adhere to the guidelines of the 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties.

Dispute over the hydel projects 

• Pakistan had in a request to the World Bank in 2016 objected to the design features of the two hydroelectric power projects and sought a settlement through a ‘Neutral Expert.’ The country, however, later withdrew the request and sought adjudication through a Court of Arbitration. 

• India, on the other hand, insisted that the issue should be resolved solely through ‘Neutral Expert’ proceedings.

• After failed negotiations, the World Bank appointed a Neutral Expert and the chair of the Court of Arbitration in October 2022. Issuing a notice for the modification in the Treaty, India warned that “such parallel consideration of the same issues is not covered under any provision of the IWT.” 

• In July 2023, the Court of Arbitration ruled that it was “competent to consider and determine the disputes set forth by Pakistan’s request for arbitration”. Pakistan filed its first Memorial, which listed out its legal case with documents, under this process in March this year.

• A month later, the court undertook a week-long visit to the Neelum-Jhelum Hydro-Electric Plant in Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir “to familiarise the court with general aspects of the design and operation of run-of-river hydro-electric plants along the Indus system of rivers”. 

• While India refused to take part in the Court of Arbitration, it submitted a Memorial to the Neutral Expert in August 2023.

UPSC Civil Services Examination, Previous Year Question (PYQ)

Q1. With reference to the Indus river system, of the following four rivers, three of them pour into one of them which joins the Indus directly. Among the following, which one is such a river that joins the Indus directly? (2021)

(a) Chenab

(b) Jhelum

(c) Ravi

(d) Sutlej

Ans: (d).

(The author is a trainer for Civil Services aspirants.)