Can India Cut Off Pakistan’s Indus River Lifeline?
Center for Strategic and International Studies
“Often characterized as a ‘divorce settlement’ more than a cooperative agreement, the IWT divides the Indus Basin physically, splitting custody of the six major tributaries. To Pakistan, it allots control of the three Western rivers, the Chenab, the Jhelum, and the Indus main stem (together amounting to about 80 percent of the Indus system’s average annual flow). India must let these rivers run freely through its territory except for specific restricted uses. India receives rights to the three Eastern rivers, the Beas, the Ravi, and the Sutlej. When the Eastern branches exit India, they become available to Pakistan.”
Can India block the Indus River flows to Pakistan? “No. In the near term, India does not possess the infrastructure necessary to prevent the Indus’s flows from reaching its neighbor. This is by design. The IWT strictly regulates the infrastructure India can install and the water it can withdraw or store on the rivers allocated to Pakistan. On average, some 182 cubic kilometers (km3) of water stream through the six Indus branches from India into Pakistan every year, over 170 km3 coming from the Indus main stem, the Jhelum River, and the Chenab. The IWT allows India only 3.6 million acre feet of storage capacity (about 4.4 km3) on these three Western tributaries.”
“Unable for now to block water flows to Pakistan, India can, however, halt the flow of information…”
https://www.csis.org/analysis/can-india-cut-pakistans-indus-river-lifeline