India rejects Hague court order to restore Indus waters pact with Pakistan

What the report says

India has رفض? No—India has rejected a ruling from the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague that said the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty with Pakistan remains in force and that India lacked justification to suspend it. According to Al Jazeera, New Delhi said the tribunal has no jurisdiction over what it described as India’s sovereign decisions.

The dispute escalated after India suspended the treaty in April last year, following a deadly attack in Kashmir that India linked to two assailants it identified as Pakistani. Pakistan denied any role in the attack. The treaty governs shared river systems that are critical to Pakistan’s agriculture, with Al Jazeera noting that the waters support most of the country’s farmland.

The court’s ruling on Monday also placed limits on India’s work at the Ratle hydroelectric project in Kashmir, barring construction on certain dam and intake structures above specified levels until a neutral expert process concludes. India said it does not recognize the court, while Pakistan welcomed the interim measures and said it is reviewing the decision.

The case highlights how the long-running Kashmir conflict is now directly affecting one of the region’s most important bilateral agreements. More broadly, the dispute underscores the strategic weight of water-sharing arrangements between nuclear-armed neighbors, especially when cross-border tensions rise.