Flexing riparian muscles

New Delhi should weigh its options carefully

- 

India's suspension of the 65-year-old Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) following suspected Pakistan-sponsored terrorist attacks on tourists in Pahalgam on April 22 has altered the dynamics of the already stressed relations between the two nuclear-armed neighbours. The treaty is considered a landmark transboundary water-sharing agreement in Asia, successfully maintaining water cooperation despite wars, cross-border terrorism, and diplomatic tensions.

The long- and short-term geopolitical implications of this suspension flow from India's position as an upper riparian country when it comes to the Indus and its tributaries in the west, and as a lower riparian one in the Northeast, which is watered by the Tsangpo/Brahmaputra with its headwaters in the Tibetan plateau in China.