ISLAMABAD - The Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague has ruled that the Indus Waters Treaty between Pakistan and India remains fully in force, rejecting India’s attempt to place the decades-old water-sharing agreement “in abeyance.”

In a unanimous decision issued Monday, the Court of Arbitration found that India had no valid basis to unilaterally suspend or terminate its obligations under the 1960 treaty. The ruling also directed India to comply with its obligations concerning hydroelectric projects on the western rivers and limited work on the Ratle hydropower project in Indian-administered Kashmir pending further assessment.

Pakistan welcomed the ruling, describing it as a decisive reaffirmation of the treaty’s legal force.

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said the award vindicated Pakistan’s longstanding position that a binding international treaty cannot be unilaterally suspended or set aside.

“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 said India must fully comply with its obligations under the treaty and with binding decisions arising from its dispute-settlement mechanisms.

“Pakistan remains firmly committed to safeguarding its rights under the Indus Waters Treaty, inshaAllah,” Dar said.

The ruling comes amid a deepening dispute between the nuclear-armed neighbours over control and use of the Indus river system, which is vital to Pakistan’s agriculture and water security. The treaty, signed in 1960 with World Bank involvement, allocates the eastern rivers — Ravi, Beas and Sutlej — primarily to India, while Pakistan has rights over the western rivers — Indus, Jhelum and Chenab — subject to specified uses by India.

India announced on April 23, 2025, that it was placing the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance, one day after an attack near Pahalgam in Indian occupied Kashmir. India blamed Pakistan for attack while Islamabad rejected the blame and offer India for independent international investigation but India refused to allow neutral international investigators to probe the attack while despite passing of more than one year New Delhi failed to present any proof of Pakistan's involvement in the attack. 

Analysts believed that the Kashmir attack was apparently a false flag operation carried out by Indian intelligence agencies .

Meanwhile, Dar reiterated that position days before Monday’s ruling, saying the treaty provides no mechanism for either side to place it in “abeyance” through a unilateral political declaration and that international-law obligations cannot simply be extinguished in that manner.

Monday’s ruling strengthens Pakistan’s legal position that the treaty remains binding, although India’s rejection of the arbitration process raises questions over how the decision will be implemented in practice.