The author dates the Indus Waters Treaty to 19 Sept 1960: eastern rivers to India, western to Pakistan with limited Indian use. India put the pact in abeyance after the 22 April 2025 Pahalgam attack (26 civilians killed, the piece says after religious targeting). Restoration, in New Delhi’s line here, waits on an end to cross-border terrorism. Pakistan sought arbitration; India rejected it.

At home the author cites agriculture at 94% of withdrawals; storage of 9% of Indus-system water vs ~40% globally, ~30 days vs a 120-day benchmark; ~30 million acre-feet unused to the sea; 35–40% lost in colonial canals. Cited harms: half of two million wet tons of excreta in water; 60 million at arsenic risk; ~60% of people with water-linked disease; ~60,000 premature deaths a year, half under five. Diamer-Bhasha: ~Rs 9bn raised, ~Rs 14bn spent on ads (PAC 2022); hydro may be dropped.

The piece quotes Kugelman and Ishrat Husain: own the problem; it is governance. D’Souza and IDSA’s Uttam Sinha: India lacks the dams and canals to stop the Indus, Jhelum, and Chenab. The author’s close: fix irrigation, storage, and graft rather than blame New Delhi. That is the argument, not a hydrological ruling.

Pakistan’s worsening water crisis is the product of its own governance failures, not simply India’s control over the Indus waters. Instead of blaming New Delhi, Islamabad must confront decades of mismanagement, corruption, and inadequate water infrastructure.

It is the 66th anniversary of the Indus Waters Treaty, which was signed on September 19, 1960. Brokered by the World Bank after years of negotiations between India and Pakistan, the treaty divided the six rivers of the Indus River system between the two countries. India received the eastern rivers—the Ravi, Beas, and Sutlej—while the western rivers—the Indus, Jhelum, and Chenab—were allocated to Pakistan, with India retaining limited rights to use their waters for specified purposes. Despite the troubled history between the two countries, the treaty remained an important example of cooperation, with India honouring it in good faith even as Pakistan continued to pursue cross-border terrorism. That long-standing commitment changed after the April 22, 2025, Pahalgam terror attack, in which 26 civilians were killed, reportedly after being targeted on the basis of their Hindu religious identity before being segregated. India subsequently placed the treaty in abeyance and linked its restoration to Pakistan’s credible and irrevocable renunciation of support for cross-border terrorism against India. Just days before the attack, Pakistan’s army chief, Asim Munir, had invoked the two-nation theory, arguing that Hindus and Muslims are different and cannot live together, remarks that were........

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