Kuala Lampur, May 9 -- MAY 9 - The Indus River System comprises six major rivers - the Indus, Chenab, Jhelum, Ravi, Beas and Sutlej - flowing through the territories of both India and Pakistan. The system sustains drinking water, agriculture and electricity generation across the Indus Basin, supporting hundreds of millions of people on both sides of the border.

When British India was partitioned in 1947, the Indus River System was also divided between the two successor states. The geographic reality was stark: India, as the upper riparian state, held the headwaters of most rivers, while Pakistan's agricultural heartland - the heavily irrigated Punjab plains - depended critically on continued water flows from the east. India, meanwhile, r...