BLOG
Tourist Killings Test Limits of India’s Water Diplomacy
May 4th, 2025
Via Nikkei Asia, a look at how a recent terrorist attack could undermine India’s water treaty with Pakistan: The Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) between India and Pakistan has long been hailed as a rare success in transboundary water sharing. It has stood as a beacon of cooperation between two hostile neighbors. Under the treaty, upstream India reserved […]
Read more »War or Peace on the Indus?
May 3rd, 2025
Via South Asian Idea, a historical commentary on the Indus water treaty from a renowned water scholar: Anyone foolish enough to write on war or peace in the Indus needs to first banish a set of immediate suspicions. I am neither Indian nor Pakistani. I am a South African who has worked on water issues […]
Read more »Undermining The Indus Waters Treaty Imperils Indian Security
May 3rd, 2025
Via The Financial Times, commentary on how New Delhi’s efforts to downgrade ties with Islamabad will inflict damage on both sides of the border: The Indus Waters Treaty has withstood three wars between its nuclear-armed signatories, India and Pakistan. But last week, in the wake of a brutal terrorist attack in Pahalgam, a town in […]
Read more »Can India Cut Off Pakistan’s Indus River Lifeline?
May 2nd, 2025
Via CSIS, commentary on Delhi’s recent suspension of the Indus Water Treaty: On April 22, 2025, armed militants emerged from the woods into a scenic meadow outside the mountain town of Pahalgam in India and opened fire on unsuspecting tourists, killing at least 28 people and wounding dozens. India blamed Pakistan for the massacre, subsequently linking the […]
Read more »Pakistan: Question of Water Scarcity and Water Security
April 29th, 2025
Via Dawn, a Pakistani perspective on the recent decision by India to withdraw from the Indus Water Treaty: India’s recent suspension of the Indus Water Treaty marks a grave turning point in regional politics and underscores a critical imperative for Pakistan: to resolve its internal political squabbles with utmost urgency. At a time when external pressures threaten […]
Read more »Blood For Water? Why India Is Within Its Rights To Withdraw From Indus Water Treaty
April 29th, 2025
Via Stagecraft and Statecraft, commentary on why India is within its right to withdraw from the Indus Water Treaty: When the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) was signed in 1960, it was an act of extraordinary generosity on India’s part. Despite being the upper riparian state, India reserved for Pakistan over 80% of the Indus Basin […]
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