India has rejected a ruling by a World Bank-constituted arbitration panel in The Hague on the Indus Waters Treaty, maintaining that the body was created in violation of the 1960 agreement and has no jurisdiction over New Delhi’s decisions.
The Indian Embassy in Washington DC reiterated the position on August 31, saying India had never recognised the Court of Arbitration, participated in its proceedings or accepted that its decisions were binding. The Ministry of External Affairs also rejected the legitimacy of the arbitration process.
The response came after the panel said India’s reasons for placing the treaty in abeyance did not justify suspending or terminating it and maintained that the agreement remained in force.
India placed the treaty in abeyance following the April 2025 Pahalgam terror attack. New Delhi has maintained that cross-border terrorism and the changed security environment have fundamentally altered the circumstances under which the treaty was being implemented.
Signed in 1960 with the World Bank’s involvement, the Indus Waters Treaty governs the sharing of waters from the Indus river system between India and Pakistan.
