India, Sept. 19 -- On this day in 1960, ink met paper to seal the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT), which was signed by India and Pakistan with the World Bank and its then-president, Eugene Black, playing the role of a mediator in the nine years of negotiations.

Former US President Dwight Eisenhower hailed it as "one bright spot... in a very depressing world picture."

However, India put the water-sharing framework in abeyance after the April 2025 terror attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, which claimed 26 lives.

Following the 1947 partition, the Indus Basin river system, supporting millions of people, was abruptly cleaved between India and Pakistan. As the negotiations between the two countries went on for years, Eugene Black approached th...