Commenting on the development over the treaty, Ahmer Bilal Soofi, a former federal law minister, President Research Society of International Law and an advocate in the Supreme Court on the issue India has no legal competence under the treaty to revoke it per se on its own as Article 12(4) of the treaty entitles the termination of the treaty only if both India and Pakistan agree in writing.

He said there is an arbitration clause in the IWT that can be set in motion if India go to that extreme.

“India cannot itself conclude that Pakistan has breached the treaty on any grounds, including mistrust. In case India ‘revokes’ the treaty, it literally means it has shunned it,” he said.

“The dispute resolution mechanism under article IX and Annexes F and G of the IWT will be of no use and assistance to Pakistan. It is limited to a dispute under the treaty and not meant to provide for specific performance of the treaty itself.

“Since there is no provision in the IWT about its duration or suspension, there is no avenue that Pakistan can approach for ‘revival’ of the treaty. Nor can Pakistan approach the International Court of Justice seeking specific performance to implement the treaty because of the Indian reservation given under IC J statute that bars filing of case by Pakistan against India.

“In other words, Pakistan will not be left with any peaceful mechanism for seeking performance of the treaty by India,” he said.

Soofi said in case India tries to interrupt water flow into Pakistan as an upper riparian, it is setting up a regional state practice which under international law can serve as a precedence and equip China with an argument to consider suspension of the waters of Brahmaputra river.

“India may have already damaged itself by even considering the suspension of water flow as an upper riparian and the Chinese government must be watching Indian moves with interest,” he said.

The Pakistan Army today said it was closely watching the Indian border and was “fully prepared to respond” to any kind of situation, in the wake of rising tensions with India after the Uri terror attack.

“We are closely monitoring the developments on the eastern border and we are fully prepared to respond,” military spokesman Lt Gen Asim Saleem Bajwa said after a security meeting in Peshawar.

The meeting headed by army chief General Raheel Sharif reviewed the security at the border with Afghanistan.

Diplomatic tensions have spiked between India and Pakistan since the September 18 attack on an army base in Uri in Jammu and Kashmir that killed 18 Indian soldiers.

Pakistan has rejected allegations of its involvement in the assault with both countries hitting out at each other including at the UN General Assembly.

Bajwa said that the meeting discussed the steps being taken for border management by the armed forces.

He said work has been completed on 20 posts set up for border management.

Defending Pakistan’s security measures at the border with Afghanistan, Bajwa said that the border management would be more effective if matching actions are taken by Afghanistan on its side.

Bajwa also said that Pakistan had not accused any country without concrete evidence.

He said that major actions under Operation Zarb-e-Azb which was launched in June 2014 have been completed but intelligence and combing operations were going in different areas.