After New Delhi that it would hold the Indus Waters Treaty with Pakistan in abeyance in response to the terror attack in Pahalgam on April 22 that left 26 people dead, Islamabad . It said that it would consider “any attempt to stop or divert the flow of water belonging to Pakistan…as an …” Pakistan also said it was exploring legal strategies to keep the waters from India flowing.

However, it’s clear that Pakistan’s options are limited.

Detailing the legal strategies available to Pakistan, the country’s Minister of State for Law and Justice Aqeel Malik told Reuters that Islamabad could raise the issue at the World Bank, which mediated the treaty. It could also move the Permanent Court of Arbitration or the International Court of Justice in The Hague claiming that India has violated the 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties.

At the diplomatic level, Pakistan could raise the issue with the too, he said. The World Bank, after negotiating the treaty on sharing the water of the Indus River System in 1960, also played a role in settling disagreements between India and Pakistan.

For instance, in May 2005, after consultation with the two countries, the World Bank appointed Raymond Lafitte as a “neutral expert”...