💧 Water Under Siege: Pakistan Wants Indus Treaty Back—But India Might Have Shut the Tap for Good

EduInvesting.in | May 14, 2025

In a dramatic twist that sounds like the plot of a Netflix geopolitical thriller, Pakistan has formally requested India to reconsider its suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT)—a decades-old agreement that divided the flow of six rivers between two countries that still haven’t divided their WhatsApp forwards.

The trigger? The Pahalgam terror attack in April 2025 that killed 26 civilians. India believes the attackers had Pakistani links. In response, it suspended elements of the treaty, stopped visa services, and basically told Pakistan, “This river no longer flows your way, bro.”

🏞️ Wait, what’s the Indus Waters Treaty again?

Signed in 1960, brokered by the World Bank, and somehow more consistent than any cricket series between the two, the IWT divides rivers like this:

• India gets: Sutlej, Ravi, Beas
• Pakistan gets: Indus, Jhelum, Chenab

India was also allowed limited irrigation use on the Pakistan-bound rivers, but “limited” is something both neighbours interpret differently—like teenagers negotiating curfews.

🥤Why does Pakistan suddenly care?

Well, because water is kinda important. Especially when your agriculture depends on it and you’re:

• Battling food inflation
• Facing economic crisis