Indus Waters Treaty

Abstract

The Indus River is among the longest rivers in Asia and the transboundary Indus River Basin is one of the largest in the region. Rising in the Tibetan Plateau of the Himalayas, the Indus flows through Afghanistan, China, India, and Pakistan, discharging through the Indus Delta into the Arabian Sea near Karachi. The largest areas of the Basin lie in Pakistan and India. The basin faces severe water stress. Increasing conflict in the 1950s over sharing the Basin’s water s between India and Pakistan led to the two countries signing the Indus Waters Treaty in 1960. The Treaty is recognized as one of the most successful transboundary water-sharing mechanisms in the world.