ABSTRACT
Pakistan and India share a complex relationship, apart from common border, culture and history; both share the Indus River Waters System. Since the partition of the Indian subcontinent in 1947, the waters of the Indus Basin system have been one of the major sources of tension between the two countries. The genesis of the dispute over water sharing lies in the partition of the Indian subcontinent, when the partition placed the extensive canal network headworks in India; making India an upper riparian state and Pakistan a lower riparian state with 80 per cent of its area irrigated by the canals. Therefore, partition created conflict over the plentiful waters of the Indus Basin system. As a result, the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) water sharing deal was brokered between India and Pakistan in 1960 through the arbitration of the World Bank. This is the only agreement faithfully implemented by the two countries; however, certain factors such as the construction of Indian dams and their blockage of the share of water flow to Pakistan, disrupted cooperation, putting the IWT under strain. This chapter, by taking an international legal perspective, explores the existing concerns under the IWT.
