Kashmir’s Erasure from International Law

Abstract From East Timor to Palestine, political erasures flowing from the legal concepts of self-determination and permanent (state) sovereignty over natural resources remain enduring sites of struggle. This article traces how international law produced such an erasure in Kashmir through a pre-history of the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty. David Lilienthal, famous as the architect of the Tennessee Valley Authority, argued that harnessing the Indus waters for India and Pakistan’s postcolonial development required setting aside Kashmiri demands for self-determination. International law had to transform the waters into common property owned by India and Pakistan and protect their economic value from popular politics. Adjudication of the water dispute was dismissed because a public legal argumentative battle would inflame controversy. Instead, disputes needed to be solved by international law. This pre-history of the Treaty cuts against celebratory narratives of the water-sharing arrangement by showing what lies beneath the surface of a seemingly successful treaty regime.