THIS is with reference to the article ‘International law and Indus wars’ (May 17), which detailed specific provisions of the Vienna Convention on Law of Treaties which India is breaching by holding the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) in abeyance.
The article also gave a unique pers-pective to this issue by pointing out that India’s interference with the waters of Chenab may actually constitute a breach of the international humanitarian law; the law of war.
The international humanitarian law is the branch of public international law that applies to armed conflicts, and aims at limiting the effects of warfare by requiring parties to follow key principles, like distinction, proportion and precaution.
After the lessons learned during World War II, modern international humani-tarian law primarily seeks to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure during times of conflict.
However, some question whether or not the international humanitarian law is applicable to Pakistan and India today. For the law to apply, an international armed conflict between states, or a non-international armed conflict between a state and a non-state groups must be in place.
The Rule of Law in Armed Conflict (RULAC) portal of the Geneva Academy, which identifies and classifies situations of armed conflict, says that due to the increase in skirmishes along the Line of Control (LoC) since 2013, Pakistan and India continue to be involved in an international armed conflict. Therefore, even after the current ceasefire between the two states, the application of international humanitarian law remains valid.
The said article based its argument on the Additional Protocol I (AP-I) to the Geneva Conventions, 1949. Pakistan and India are both parties to the Geneva Conventions, but not to the APs.
However, as the name suggests, the international law derives its rules from general and consistent practice of states accepted as legally binding regardless of treaty status. This means that even without being a party to it, provisions of AP-I, especially those related to the protection of civilians and civilian infrastructure, are still very much relevant to the conflict.
Rana M. Hasham Asghar
Islamabad
Published in Dawn, May 30th, 2025
