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What happened when India stopped canal water flowing to Pakistan in 1948?

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Physical map showing the Indus River basin and its drainage network across parts of Pakistan, India, China, and Afghanistan. The map details river courses, tributaries, canals, dams, irrigated and marsh areas, sand regions, and elevation changes with shaded relief. International, disputed, and control boundaries are marked, and a small locator map in the corner shows the basin's position within South Asia. — Indus River The Indus River basin and its drainage network.

Following the 1947 partition of India, the region's irrigation system was bifurcated, leaving headworks in India and canals in Pakistan. When the short-term Standstill Agreement expired, India halted the flow of canal waters to Pakistan on April 1, 1948.12

This action created an immediate crisis regarding water supply for agricultural sustainability in Pakistan. To address the situation, the two nations signed the Inter-Dominion Accord on May 4, 1948. Under this agreement, India resumed the flow of water in exchange for annual payments from Pakistan, serving as a temporary measure while both sides sought a permanent resolution. This dispute eventually led to the Indus Waters Treaty in 1960, which was brokered by the World Bank to formally define the rights and obligations of both countries regarding the Indus River system.123