{"id":65304,"date":"2026-06-29T12:56:04","date_gmt":"2026-06-29T12:56:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/?p=65304"},"modified":"2026-06-29T12:56:04","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T12:56:04","slug":"water-rights-of-global-south-pakistan-to-host-first-conference-on-indus-water-treaty-to-build-consensus-on-construction-of-dams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/water-rights-of-global-south-pakistan-to-host-first-conference-on-indus-water-treaty-to-build-consensus-on-construction-of-dams\/","title":{"rendered":"Water Rights of Global South ! Pakistan to host First Conference on Indus Water Treaty to Build Consensus on Construction of Dams"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"ISLAMABAD : Pakistan will host a \u201cfirst of its kind\u201d Indus Waters Treaty conference on Tuesday featuring water and legal experts from all over the world stressing the need to build consensus on building dams to regulate the country\u2019s water storage capacity.<\/p>\n

Pakistan has warned that it will not let India violate the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) by blocking or diverting its flow of water. The IWT, brokered between the two rivals in 1960, governs the distribution of waters from the Indus river system between the two countries.<\/p>\n

The conference is essentially a conference of justice and fundamental rights. It will also present all the legal, technical and international convention-related aspects of the Indus Water Treaty. However, the real question will be whether the water rights of the four billion people of the world who live in the lowlands and among whom water is distributed according to international principles rather than a specific treaty will be protected.<\/p>\n

India announced in April 2025 that it was holding the treaty in abeyance unilaterally after blaming Islamabad for supporting a militant attack in Indian-administered Kashmir.<\/p>\n

Pakistan denied the allegations and called for an impartial probe into the attack. Pakistan has warned that India is pursuing reservoir, expansion and diversion projects on rivers covered by the IWT.<\/p>\n

IWT seminar will be attended by international water and legal experts. And under this seminar, awareness will be given that what is Pakistan\u2019s right on water, on rivers according to the Indus Waters Treaty, what is that right, what is its nature, and what are its different aspects.<\/p>\n

Pakistan has already announced that whoever touches our water, we will cut their hands. Pakistan ,in the seminar, would stress the need to build a consensus on building dams in the country among political parties. Dams were especially necessary as they ensured water was available in storage for farmers when they required it at particular times of the year for fields.<\/p>\n

Federal ministers of information and climate change held a press conference in this regard and shared that \u201cWe should at least agree that we need to regulate the water [flow] and we need dams,\u201d he said. \u201cGod willing, there will be no dispute with any political party regarding this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Here it is worth mentioning and bringing into the notice of the ministers that Kala Bagh Dam has never been started only because of the political difference on the site and water distribution among the provinces. The stanch opponant of Kala Bagh dam has been Awami National Party that has been ally of PMLN in the past.<\/p>\n

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Earlier on 19 May 2026 , the\u00a0 Permanent Court of Arbitration\u2019s supplemental award on Islamabad\u2019s decade-old petition challenging the design specifications of two Indian hydropower projects on rivers allocated to Pakistan under the Indus Waters Treaty is a definitive affirmation of the supremacy of international law over unilateral state actions.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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It places India in an increasingly untenable position \u2014 legally, diplomatically, and perhaps important, morally. The ruling removes whatever ambiguity India has been trying to exploit. By reaffirming that the IWT remains binding on both parties and that neither can unilaterally suspend it, the decision closes the door on India\u2019s irrational position that it can arbitrarily hold the treaty \u201cin abeyance\u201d.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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More significantly, the tribunal has constrained India\u2019s ability to control the western rivers in ways that disadvantage Pakistan\u2019s downstream entitlement by declaring that maximum pondage must be justified by actual operational necessity \u2014 such as site hydrology, hydraulic conditions and power system requirements.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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The ruling vindicates Pakistan\u2019s position that the IWT places limits on Indian hydropower infrastructure on its rivers. The award is also significant because it strengthens Pakistan\u2019s review rights, and explicitly places the burden to provide sufficient information for treaty compliance assessment on India.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Besides being a technical and legal win, the ruling validates Pakistan\u2019s argument about the existential stakes involved for it. Pakistan is among the world\u2019s most water-stressed nations. Its agricultural economy, food security and rural livelihoods are closely tied to the Indus river system. When Pakistan raises concerns about run-of-the-river projects reducing downstream flows, it is indicating its own survival interests that the treaty was designed to protect.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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India\u2019s decision to suspend the IWT following the Pahalgam terrorist attack is a serious miscalculation and sets a troubling precedent. If India can suspend a binding international treaty, it might elicit similar moves by other riparian states \u2014 most notably, China \u2014 in treaties where India itself is the downstream party.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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The award of a court of arbitration is final and binding on both parties under the treaty and established international arbitration law. India\u2019s continued defiance and rejection of the tribunal does not hold water. Hence, New Delhi must now revise the pondage parameters of the Ratle and Kishenganga designs and ensure they are treaty-compliant. It should also restore the information-sharing and review mechanisms to allow Pakistan to independently assess compliance.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Moreover, it must reverse its decision to hold the IWT in abeyance and recommit formally to the treaty framework. No bilateral grievance can justify the suspension of a legal instrument governing the water rights of a people. India\u2019s unilateral suspension of the treaty does not merely damage bilateral relations.<\/div>\n
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It also undermines international law, sets a bad precedent for transboundary water-sharing agreements and puts in danger a system where nations share diminishing resources in a way that benefits all.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ISLAMABAD : Pakistan will host a \u201cfirst of its kind\u201d Indus Waters Treaty conference on Tuesday featuring water and legal experts from all over the world stressing the need to build consensus on building dams to regulate the country\u2019s water storage capacity. Pakistan has warned that it will not let India violate the Indus Waters […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":65308,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[1839,697,72,395,2002,48,5740,52,43],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65304"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65304"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65304\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":65311,"href":"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65304\/revisions\/65311"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65308"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65304"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65304"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65304"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}