Hague arbitration panel says India must honor water-sharing treaty with Pakistan

An international arbitration panel in The Hague has ruled that India must honor a decades-old water-sharing treaty with Pakistan. The panel prohibited India from proceeding with concrete work beyond specified levels on a hydroelectric plant being built in disputed Kashmir. This decision will remain in effect until 90 days after a neutral expert appointed by the World Bank determines whether the project's design complies with the Indus Waters Treaty.

Pakistan welcomed the ruling, stating that it reaffirmed India's treaty obligations and justified temporary restrictions on the Ratle dam project. However, India rejected the decision, calling the panel illegally constituted and asserting that it had never recognized its legal authority. The 1960 treaty, brokered by the World Bank, allocates water from the eastern Ravi, Sutlej, and Beas rivers to India and most of the western Indus, Jhelum, and Chenab rivers to Pakistan.

While India can use the western rivers for limited purposes, including hydroelectric plants, it is obligated to meet its treaty commitments, including restrictions on the design and operation of hydroelectric projects.