In Karachi, India’s Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, Pakistan’s President Mohammad Ayub Khan and W.A.B. Iliff, of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, sign the Indus Waters Treaty. The date of the instrument is 19 September 1960. It is not the Inter-Dominion Accord of 4 May 1948, and it is not the Indus Basin Development Fund Agreement, concluded the same day.

The original is in English, in triplicate. Iliff signs only for Articles V and X and for Annexures F, G and H. The Bank is not a party to the rest of the treaty.

Article II: the Eastern Rivers — the Sutlej, the Beas and the Ravi — are, after the Transition Period, unrestricted to India. The period begins on 1 April 1960 and ends on 31 March 1970; it may be extended to 31 March 1973. Pakistan withdraws from these waters by stages, with the exceptions in the annexure.

Article III: the Western Rivers — the Indus, the Jhelum and the Chenab — are for Pakistan. India may irrigate, make non-consumptive use and generate hydro-electric power within the annexures; storage, only as Annexures D and E permit.

Article V: India pays £62,060,000, in ten annual instalments, to the Bank for the Indus Basin Development Fund. Article VIII establishes the Permanent Indus Commission: one commissioner from each side, annual reports and inspections on the ground.

Article XII: the instruments of ratification are exchanged in New Delhi. The treaty enters into force on that exchange — 12 January 1961 — and applies retrospectively from 1 April 1960. It continues in force until a duly ratified treaty terminates it.

Annexure A: the Accord of 4 May 1948 is without effect from 1 April 1960. The Fund Agreement, also signed in Karachi, is a separate instrument, not a chapter of this treaty.

On 23 April 2025 India placed the treaty in abeyance after the Pahalgam attack. Article XII(4) says the treaty continues until a ratified treaty of termination; that later note is not part of the text signed in Karachi.

Image: the Indus River at Thakot, northern Pakistan; Aeromod, 10 February 2013; CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons. Cropped to 16:9.

Source consulted: Indus Waters Treaty. Treaty text: UNTS 419 I-6032, Indus Waters Treaty, 19 September 1960.