India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi is going to chair a high-level meeting on Monday to look into the possibility of revisiting a water-sharing treaty with Pakistan that has survived decades of cold ties and three wars, a top Indian government official said.

‘The meeting chaired by Prime Minister Modi will be looking at the pros and cons of the pact,’ senior government official said, reports the Hindustan Times.

Signed on 19 September 1960, between India and Pakistan, The Indus Waters Treaty is one of the most liberal water-sharing pacts in the world.

‘Under the treaty, which was signed by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and Pakistan president Ayub Khan, the water of six rivers — Beas, Ravi, Sutlej, Indus, Chenab and Jhelum — is shared between the two countries.’

‘The pact, brokered by the World Bank, survived three wars between the two countries and constant strain in their bilateral ties.’

‘The briefing on Monday will present to the Indian premier ‘pros and cons’ of the treaty which distributes waters of the Indus river system between India and Pakistan, indicating that the government is ready to take a hard look at options to claim Indus resources without breaking the word of the treaty’, reported the Times of India.

‘The decision to examine the Indus treaty comes days after foreign ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup said while India did not intend to violate the 1960 treaty, ‘eventually any cooperative arrangement requires goodwill and mutual trust on both sides’.’

‘Reviewing the treaty, however, will be a difficult proposition for India’, the Hindustan Times further reported.

‘Pakistan’s all-weather ally China is the upper riparian state in the Brahmaputra, a river that flows into India’s northeast. Making any precedent in which an upper riparian state is overbearing can give hints to Beijing on the water-sharing issue, which doesn’t augur well for India.’