‘Indus Waters Treaty can’t exist in present form’: India declares water-sharing terms outdated, flags Pak’s terror support

India has stated that the India-Pakistan Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) cannot continue in its present form.

In addition to flagging Pakistan's continued support for terrorism, the Narendra Modi government has stressed that the cross-border water-sharing arrangement must be renegotiated in light of climatic and demographic conditions that have changed drastically since the 1950s when the treaty was negotiated.

India declared the IWT to be in abeyance in April 2025 after the Pahalgam terrorist attack, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi declaring that water and blood cannot flow together across the border. Pakistan-based and -backed Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) had claimed responsibility for the Pahalgam attack.

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"It would be accurate to say that the IWT in its present form will not function at all. If provisions related to river water sharing have to be reactivated, they will have to be done in a different form. Not in the present form," a source told The Times of India.

The source added that India will await further developments before considering the maximalist option of withdrawing from the treaty altogether.

Prior to declaring the IWT in abeyance, India had approached Pakistan to renegotiate the treaty at least four times in 2023 and 2024.

India to consider invoking international law to potentially quit IWT

Even though the IWT does not contain an exit clause, India could invoke customary international law to nullify the treaty, according to The Times of India.

The newspaper reported that India could invoke Article 60 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (VCLT), which allows a party to withdraw partially or fully from a treaty in the case of a breach.

India has long considered Pakistan's refusal to renegotiate the treaty and stop supporting cross-border terrorism to be violations.

Sources in the government further said that Pakistan has sought to portray itself as a victim of India's actions whereas it is actually a victim of its own complacency. They noted that Pakistan has not built a single large-scale water storage project since the 1970s or invested in modern water management despite receiving nearly 80 per cent of the waters allocated under the IWT.

The IWT allows India unrestricted use of the waters of the Ravi, Sutlej, and Beas rivers, and gives Pakistan control of the Indus, Chenab, and Jhelum rivers.

Despite declaring the IWT to be in abeyance, India has continued to share flood warnings with Pakistan to help protect lives and property in the country.