India's Ambassador to the US Defends Indus Waters Treaty Abeyance in Newsweek Opinion Piece
The Facts
- India's Ambassador to the United States, Vinay Mohan Kwatra, published an opinion piece in the US magazine Newsweek defending New Delhi's decision to keep the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance.
- In the article, Kwatra wrote: "It is worth remembering that the treaty's preamble declares it was concluded 'in a spirit of goodwill and friendship'. Pakistan spent half a century dismantling that goodwill and friendship. The abeyance merely acknowledges what Pakistan's conduct had already destroyed."
- India announced that the treaty would be held in abeyance in April 2025, a day after an attack on tourists in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, in which 26 people were killed.
- Kwatra's article came after the government of Pakistan convened a conference in Islamabad to protest India's decision; he wrote that a former Pakistani foreign minister there threatened war against India if Pakistan's demands on the Indus river system were not met, and described such threats as an attempt to distract from Pakistan's internal problems.
- Kwatra wrote that if Pakistan wants India's cooperation on bilateral issues, it must first dismantle the cross-border terror infrastructure it has built.
- Kwatra also accused Pakistan of obstructing India's rights under the treaty and of blocking Indian attempts to modernise or renegotiate the agreement to reflect present-day realities and technological change.
- Pakistan has rejected India's move, arguing that the treaty contains no provision for unilateral suspension, and has warned that an attempt to stop or divert its waters would be treated as an act of war.
- India attributed the Pahalgam attack to Pakistan; Pakistan demanded evidence and called for an independent investigation, leaving the dispute over the treaty and its underlying allegations unresolved.
Context
What is the Indus Waters Treaty and how does it divide the rivers?
The treaty was signed in 1960 and brokered by the World Bank to govern the sharing of the Indus river system between India and Pakistan Tribune,Dawn. Kwatra wrote that the arrangement gave Pakistan access to nearly 80 percent of the basin's waters while limiting India's share to around 20 percent, and said New Delhi continued to honour the agreement despite that imbalance Hindustan Times.
What does holding the treaty 'in abeyance' mean in practice?
India announced on April 23, 2025 that the treaty would be held "in abeyance with immediate effect" until Pakistan met a security condition that, according to one analysis, appears nowhere in the agreement Daily Times. Pakistan's position is that the treaty has no mechanism for unilateral suspension Daily Times,Dawn. Kwatra's article frames the abeyance as the culmination of years of Pakistani conduct rather than a sudden political reaction Tribune.
What did Kwatra say about resuming India-Pakistan dialogue?
Kwatra argued that past attempts at renewed dialogue had failed to deliver meaningful results, and that calls for cooperation on water cannot be separated from the history of terrorism and hostility between the two countries News18,India Today.
Where Left and Right agree, and where they split
- Where Left and Right agree
- Both reads accept that the treaty no longer functions as designed and that water carries war-level stakes, with the Pahalgam allegations still unresolved between the two governments.
- Where Left and Right split
- Binding rules protecting civilians who never chose this fight, or what a treaty obligates once one party has hollowed out its spirit.
How left and right read it
A 1960 water-sharing treaty was placed in abeyance a day after the Pahalgam attack killed 26 people; India blamed Pakistan, while Pakistan demanded evidence and an independent investigation and warned that stopping or diverting the waters would be treated as an act of war. Rivers should not be used as a bargaining chip. Civilians did not choose this fight, and binding rules matter most when water itself is at stake.
India's ambassador to Washington published a defense of the abeyance in Newsweek, arguing that a treaty concluded "in a spirit of goodwill and friendship" cannot bind one party after fifty years of that goodwill being dismantled. Reciprocity is the whole bargain. Kwatra says India's rights under the pact were obstructed and its attempts to modernise it blocked, and that cooperation requires dismantling cross-border terror infrastructure first. What does a treaty obligate when only one side keeps its side?
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Independent coverage (35)
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