The Indus Waters Treaty will stand in abeyance till Pakistan “irrevocably” stops its support for cross-border terrorism, the Union government reiterated on Friday.
New Delhi’s position on the treaty is consistent, said Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal.
The comment came in response to a reporter’s question about a conference organised by Pakistan on the Indus Waters Treaty.
India had suspended the treaty in April 2025 in response to the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam.
Pakistan had at the time described India’s suspension of the treaty as an “act of war” and warned that it would respond with “full force across the complete spectrum of national power”.
India and Pakistan signed the Indus Waters Treaty in 1960 with the World Bank as an additional signatory. The pact sought to divide the water of the Indus river and its tributaries equitably among the two countries. Under the treaty, water from three eastern rivers, Beas, Ravi and Sutlej, were allocated to India and that from the three western rivers – Chenab, Indus and Jhelum – to Pakistan.
The treaty also permits both countries to use the other’s rivers for certain purposes, such as small hydroelectric projects that require little or no water storage.
Experts told Scroll at the time that the suspension of the treaty implies that India is no longer accountable to Pakistan for using, regulating or stopping the flow of the water of the Chenab, Indus and Jhelum rivers.
In June 2025, Union Home Minister Amit Shah told The Times of India that India will never restore the Indus Waters Treaty with Pakistan.
Edited by Nachiket Deuskar.
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