World Bank not intimated as India puts Indus Water Treaty on hold

While India currently does not have the infrastructure on Indus River systems to store water or divert its movement away from the current course, holding Indus Water Treaty (IWT) in abeyance means that India will stop communicated hydrological data on the Indus rivers with Pakistan.

This also means that should India plans or starts any infrastructural work on hydro-electric projects in the Western Rivers, Pakistan will not be made aware of it.

Indian publication, The Hindu, said on Friday that “the World Bank has not been informed of India’s decision to keep the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) in abeyance”. India, however, contends that once Pakistan is informed of the update, there is no more need to inform the global mediator.

Pakistan closes air space for Indian airlines, warns against water treaty violation

The global financial body is a key members of the treaty, in its role as a mediator between India and Pakistan. In the past, the World Bank has mediated several disputes on water sharing between both countries.

On Thursday (yesterday), Indian Ministry of Water Resources Secretary Debashree Mukherjee, wrote to her Pakistan counterpart, Syed Ali Murtaza. In her letter, she wrote that India was keeping the treaty in abeyance with “immediate effect”, justifying it in the following words:

“The obligation to honour a treaty in good faith is fundamental to a treaty. However, what we have seen instead is sustained cross-border terrorism by Pakistan targeting the Indian Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir.”

The Hindu also quoted a World Bank spokesperson as saying that the Indus Water Treaty is an agreement between India and Pakistan, with a successful history of over six decades, adding that the World Bank “was only a signatory to the treaty for a limited set of defined tasks”.

However, it is notable here that the World Bank does not have the enforcement power for this treaty.