What Is Indus Waters Treaty With Pak That India Suspended After J&K Terror Attack

All About The Indus Waters Treaty

1. India and Pakistan signed the Indus Waters Treaty on September 19, 1960, after nine years of negotiations, with the World Bank being a signatory to the pact.
2. The treaty sets out a mechanism for cooperation and information exchange between the two sides on the use of the waters of a number of cross-border rivers.
3. Under the agreement governing six common rivers, all the water of the eastern rivers – Sutlej, Beas, and Ravi amounting to around 33 million acre feet (MAF) annually – has been allocated to India for unrestricted use.
4. The waters of western rivers – Indus, Jhelum, and Chenab – amounting to around 135 MAF annually have been assigned largely to Pakistan. 
5. According to the Treaty, India has been given the right to generate hydroelectricity through run of the river projects on the western rivers subject to specific criteria for design and operation. 
6. The Treaty also gives the right to Pakistan to raise objections on the design of Indian hydroelectric projects on western rivers.
7. The treaty warrants the two commissioners to meet at least once a year, alternately in India and Pakistan. However, a meeting scheduled to be held in New Delhi in March 2020 was cancelled in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.
8. The provisions of the treaty may from time to time be modified by a duly ratified treaty concluded for that purpose between the two governments.
9. The preamble of the treaty says: “The Government of India and the Government of Pakistan, being equally desirous of attaining the most complete and satisfactory utilisation of the waters of the Indus system of rivers and recognising the need, therefore, of fixing and delimiting, in a spirit of goodwill and friendship, the rights and obligations of each in relation to the other concerning the use of these waters and of making provision for the settlement, in a cooperative spirit, of all such questions as may hereafter arise in regard to the interpretation or application of the provisions agreed upon herein, have resolved to conclude a Treaty in furtherance of these objectives, and for this purpose have named as their plenipotentiaries…”
10. The treaty was signed under the leadership of then Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and then Pakistan Field Marshal Mohammad Ayub Khan.