ISLAMABAD: Pakistan said on Wednesday the next phase of Neutral Expert proceedings under the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) will take place in Vienna next week, even as India has halted its participation in the process.
The 1960 World Bank-brokered treaty governs the sharing of rivers between upper riparian India and lower riparian Pakistan and has for decades ensured peaceful distribution of water resources between the two nuclear-armed neighbors.
Tensions over the accord spiked after New Delhi said earlier this year it was putting the treaty “in abeyance” following a militant attack at a tourist resort in Indian-administered Kashmir that killed several people. India blamed Pakistan for the assault, while Islamabad denied any role and called for a neutral international investigation.
Pakistan raised India’s decision to suspend the treaty at various international forums. It later welcomed the August 2025 decision of the Court of Arbitration, which clarified key provisions of the Indus Waters Treaty, reaffirmed the court’s jurisdiction despite India’s unilateral suspension, and upheld Pakistan’s rights as the downstream riparian to both uninterrupted water flows and the interpretation of disputed projects.
“The Neutral Expert proceedings were initiated on India’s request, with their next phase scheduled to take place in Vienna from November 17 to 21, 2025,” the foreign office said in a statement, referring to the parallel process examining Pakistan’s objections to the design of Indian hydroelectric projects under the treaty.
“While India has decided to halt its participation, Pakistan continues to fully participate in the Neutral Expert proceedings in good faith,” it added. “In this regard, the Neutral Expert has ruled that India’s non-participation could not operate as a bar to the proceedings going forward.”
Signed in 1960, the IWT divides control of six major rivers between the two neighboring states. India controls the eastern rivers, Ravi, Beas and Sutlej, while Pakistan has rights to the western rivers, Indus, Jhelum and Chenab.
Disputes over India’s hydropower projects have led to arbitration proceedings under the treaty’s mechanisms.
Pakistan has previously said India’s unilateral move to suspend the treaty violates international law, warning that any attempt to block or divert river flows would be viewed as an “act of war.”
Despite tensions, India shared river-flow data with Pakistan during this year’s monsoon season.
However, it bypassed the treaty’s official communication channel and relayed the information through its diplomatic mission in Islamabad.
The data sharing was followed by severe flooding in Pakistan’s eastern Punjab province after India released monsoon-swollen waters in three transboundary rivers.
