Description
Since their partition as successor states to British India in 1947, India and Pakistan have maintained a fraught and violent relationship, characterised by territorial disputes, ethnic rivalry, nationalist politics, and proxy warfare fuelled by their colonial legacy. These dynamics resulted in four Indo-Pakistan wars, primarily centred on the contested regions of Jammu and Kashmir. Amid these hostilities, the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) stood out as a rare instance of durable cooperation between the two countries, regulating transboundary water and allocating usage rights over the Indus River Basin, thus withstanding war periods and diplomatic rifts. However, after the Pahalgam terror attack in April 2025 in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir, India announced the suspension of the IWT and began unilaterally withholding and releasing Chenab’s River flow, marking a watershed moment in bilateral relations. Drawing on the conceptual framework of water weaponisation, this study examines how India’s unilateral management of the river’s waters constitutes a case of international water weaponisation and a violation of the international water taboo that prohibits such practice. This paper argues that the breakdown of water cooperation through the suspension of the IWT puts in question the international norms underpinning the water taboo, potentially setting a dangerous precedent for interstate and intrastate relations that challenges this taboo.
