Pakistan’s Indus Diplomacy: From Troubled Waters to a Troubled Treaty

International Negotiation ◽

10.1163/15718069-bja10038 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-17

Author(s):

Muhammad Imran Mehsud

Keyword(s):

World Bank ◽

River System ◽

Functional Approach ◽

Indus River ◽

The World Bank ◽

The World ◽

Water Dispute ◽

Indus Waters Treaty

Abstract This article analyzes six major crises in Pakistan’s Indus diplomacy which shaped Pakistan’s water (in)security vis-à-vis upstream rival India on the Indus river system. These include first, when Pakistan failed to comply with the Standstill Agreement of 1947; second, when it signed the Inter-Dominion Agreement; third, when it acquiesced to the Nehru-Lilienthal-favored functional approach to the Indus water dispute in 1951; fourth, when the World Bank Proposal of 1954 apportioned exclusive use of the Western Rivers to Pakistan and the Eastern Rivers to India, but Pakistan delayed accepting the Proposal; fifth, when India secured rights on the Western Rivers in the Indus Waters Treaty of 1960; and sixth, several challenges that have emerged under the Indus Waters Treaty.

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Challenges to Indus Waters Treaty and Options for Pakistan

Global Regional Review ◽

10.31703/grr.2019(iv-iv).27 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol IV (IV) ◽

pp. 249-255

Author(s):

Muhammad Nawaz Bhatti ◽

Ghulam Mustafa ◽

Muhammad Waris

Keyword(s):

World Bank ◽

Water Rights ◽

Hydroelectric Power ◽

Indian Government ◽

Jammu And Kashmir ◽

The World Bank ◽

Run Off ◽

The World ◽

Water Treaty ◽

Indus Waters Treaty

The Indus water treaty was signed on 19th September 1960 by India and Pakistan under the aegis of the World Bank. Bilateral principles regarding water apportionment between both states were ensured by the Treaty. As a result, waters of the eastern rivers; Sutlej, Beas and Ravi, were assigned exclusively to India, while Pakistan received exclusive water rights of the western rivers; the Indus, Jhelum and Chenab but India is allowed to irrigate some specific land in Indian occupied Jammu and Kashmir and to generate hydroelectric power through run-off-the river projects. Following the Uri incident, the Indian government and media are generating ideas to discard the Indus water treaty. This paper focuses on legal and international implications if India attempts to unilaterally revoke the Treaty.

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Indus Waters

Animosity at Bay ◽

10.1093/oso/9780190087579.003.0006 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 117-138

Author(s):

Pallavi Raghavan

Keyword(s):

World Bank ◽

Early Stages ◽

The World Bank ◽

The World ◽

Book Covers ◽

Water Treaty ◽

Canal Networks ◽

Indus Waters Treaty

In this chapter, I wish to offer a pre-history to the Indus Water Treaty of 1960. Since the period that this book covers ends at 1952, and since I wish to situate the discussions around the treaty as a means of implementing the partition, it becomes particularly important to understand the considerations that affected the early stages of the Indus negotiations. I argue that although the Indus Waters Treaty, negotiated under the auspices of the World Bank, was signed only in 1960, over a decade after the partition, many of its clauses had built upon the assumptions that had been formed by 1950. Indeed, by 1951, both the source of the problem—the fear that enough water would not be allowed to flow in to Pakistan from the canals that had been built before the partition—as well as its solution—that new canal networks would have to be developed in a way that would satisfy the separate requirements of both India and Pakistan—were already apparent. The discussions around Indus waters in the years that immediately followed the partition, offer valuable insights into how the implementation of the partition was conceptualized.

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The Baglihar difference and its resolution process - a triumph for the Indus Waters Treaty?

Water Policy ◽

10.2166/wp.2008.060b ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 10 (2) ◽

pp. 105-117 ◽

Cited By ~ 15

Author(s):

Salman M. A. Salman

Keyword(s):

World Bank ◽

Hydropower Plant ◽

Resolution Process ◽

The World Bank ◽

The World ◽

The Difference ◽

Under Construction ◽

Indus Waters Treaty

On January 15, 2005, Pakistan approached the World Bank asking the Bank to appoint a Neutral Expert to address a “difference” which had arisen with India under the Indus Waters Treaty. The difference related to the Baglihar hydropower plant which was under construction by India. The Bank appointed a Neutral Expert four months later, following lengthy exchanges with the two parties. On February 12, 2007, about 20 months after his appointment, the Neutral Expert issued his decision on the difference. This article reviews the main provisions of the Treaty, examines the process for the appointment and for the decision of the Neutral Expert, and analyzes the decision.

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