Indus Waters Treaty

The Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) is a water-distribution treaty between India and Pakistan to use the water available in the Indus River system in the territories of the two countries. The treaty was negotiated by India and Pakistan with the mediation of World Bank, and signed in Karachi on 19 September 1960 by Indian prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru and Pakistani president Ayub Khan. It classifies six major rivers of the Indus Basin into two categories, and gives India control over the waters of the three “Eastern Rivers”—the Beas, Ravi and Sutlej—which have a total mean annual flow of 33 million acre⋅ft (41 billion m3), while control over the three “Western Rivers”—the Indus, Chenab and Jhelum—which have a total mean annual flow of 135 million acre⋅ft (167 billion m3), was given to Pakistan.