The recent ruling by the Court of Arbitration in The Hague on the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) has rekindled tensions between India and Pakistan, with the tribunal affirming that India cannot unilaterally suspend or place the decades-old water-sharing agreement in abeyance.

The court maintained its jurisdiction over disputes related to the Kishanganga and Ratle hydroelectric projects, reinforcing the continued legal validity of the treaty despite rising political and security tensions in South Asia.

While Pakistan welcomed the decision as a victory for international law and treaty obligations, India rejected the verdict outright, calling the tribunal “illegally constituted” and refusing to recognise its authority, thereby deepening the diplomatic and legal standoff between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.

This verdict and the Indian response coincide with two mixed messages emerging from India.

The former RAW chief, A. S. Dulat, maintained in his recent interview with the BBC that dialogue with Pakistan is imperative on all matters of mutual interest.

He dismissed the imaginative claims of many Indians that Pakistan can be defeated on the battlefield or balkanised by covert operations in KP and Balochistan.

Simultaneously, the Secretary General of the RSS insisted that the BJP must keep trade and diplomatic channels open with Pakistan, as there is no other way forward.

It was the same RSS, the extremist Hindu right-wing organisation, that once wanted to annihilate Pakistan (and Indian Muslims), and it was the same Mr Dulat who had warned after Pahalgam that India’s only option was to raise walls against Pakistan, as no peace was ever possible.

What, then, has caused this change of heart – if at all?

It is unlikely that the Indian heart would change. The circumstances dictating its behaviour have certainly changed, nevertheless.

The dialogue between the US and........

© The Friday Times