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The Permanent Court of Arbitration issued a unanimous decision on September 1, 2026 determining that the Indus Waters Treaty between India and Pakistan remains fully in force. The tribunal in The Hague rejected every argument India advanced to justify its unilateral suspension of the six-decade-old pact, which New Delhi placed in abeyance in April 2025. According to the court’s findings, no provision in the treaty or rule of international law allows one party to suspend or terminate the agreement on its own.
Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar welcomed the ruling in a statement distributed on X. “Pakistan welcomes the unanimous Award of the Court of Arbitration today, which decisively rejects India’s unlawful attempt to place the Indus Waters Treaty ‘in abeyance’ and reaffirms that the Treaty remains fully in force and binding on both parties,” Dar said. He added that India must fully comply with its obligations under the Treaty and with the binding decisions of its dispute settlement mechanisms.
The tribunal further directed India to observe treaty rules governing the design and operation of hydropower projects on the western rivers that flow into Pakistan. It ordered temporary restrictions on certain construction work at the Ratle hydroelectric plant in Jammu and Kashmir. The court concluded that the treaty’s dispute-resolution provisions continue to apply to both nations.
India’s Ministry of External Affairs rejected the award within hours of its release. The ministry described the court as illegally constituted by the World Bank in breach of the treaty’s terms and said the body had no jurisdiction over India’s sovereign decisions. According to the ministry’s statement, the decision to hold the treaty in abeyance remains in force until Pakistan credibly and irrevocably ends support for cross-border terrorism, an allegation that Islamabad has repeatedly denied.
The 1960 Indus Waters Treaty, brokered by the World Bank, assigns the bulk of the Indus, Jhelum and Chenab rivers to Pakistan while granting India primary rights over the Ravi, Beas and Sutlej. These shared river systems feed 80 percent of Pakistan’s agricultural land. Regional assessments have highlighted how the agreement underpins water security for both countries amid recurring disputes over hydroelectric infrastructure.[[1]](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/9/1/pakistan-wins-indus-waters-battle-at-the-hague-but-india-threat-remains)
India initially sought a neutral expert under the treaty to address technical objections to projects including Ratle and Kishenganga while Pakistan pursued arbitration on the same matters. The Permanent Court of Arbitration has issued multiple awards in the case that India has consistently dismissed as lacking legal standing. Officials in Islamabad have indicated that the latest verdict reinforces the treaty’s binding nature even as bilateral tensions persist.
