An inflection point exists with India's suspension of the IWT that echoes beyond the immediate Indo-Pakistani dyad. It brings an urgent inquiry into whether international law allows suspension of treaty obligations based on persistent non-state violence.
The image of families clawing through rubble while awaiting aid—aid that never arrived—is not merely a tragic snapshot of natural disaster. It is the image of a political failure: the state’s inability—and unwillingness—to care for its people.