Indus Waters Treaty: Why India wants to renegotiate the pact with Pakistan

📌 Summary:

• India has kept the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) "in abeyance" after the Pahalgam terror strikes; Pakistan held an 'international' conference threatening war but has not responded to India's two notices seeking to modify/renegotiate the Treaty
• Renegotiation is not unusual: a 2013 study counted ~250 transboundary river-water treaties (covering 113 river systems); supplementary protocols, amendments and data-sharing deals have since taken the total past 800 (Oregon State University freshwater treaties database)
• IWT is NOT a static "treaty in perpetuity" — Article VII lets the two Permanent Indus Commissions undertake new engineering works by mutual agreement (never used); Article XII allows modification "from time to time" only through a fresh government-level treaty. India invoked Article XII to serve its notices
• Case for review: the Treaty omits groundwater; a 1950s pact could not factor in climate change (glacial melt, altered flows); the Permanent Indus Commission (PIC) is merely an implementing agency, unlike the more flexible Mekong River Commission (1995) that revises basin-management strategies, data-sharing and water-quality rules
• Comparator: India's 1996 Ganga treaty with Bangladesh carries a 30-year validity and is due for renewal this year — showing built-in periodic review is the global norm

🎯 UPSC Relevance: GS2 (India-Pakistan relations, use of a water treaty as strategic leverage) with GS1/GS3 linkages (river systems, integrated water resource management, climate adaptation).

📝 Prelims Facts:

• IWT was signed in 1960, brokered by the World Bank; western rivers (Indus, Jhelum, Chenab) allocated largely to Pakistan, eastern rivers (Ravi, Beas, Sutlej) to India
• Article XII governs modification; the Permanent Indus Commission is the implementing mechanism
• Mekong River Commission (1995) and the India-Bangladesh Ganga Waters Treaty (1996, 30-year validity) are the comparators cited

🔑 Key Term: "In abeyance" — temporary suspension of treaty obligations without formal withdrawal, distinct from abrogation/termination.