Bangladesh, Sept. 10 -- The Indian subcontinent is once again at the brink of confrontation. Pakistan has accused India of deliberately weaponizing water flows to aggravate the catastrophic floods that have displaced nearly 1.8 million people across Punjab and Sindh. In fact, both countries have been severely hit by climate-related calamities, and India itself has also suffered from the same torrential rains. Yet the accusation is politically loaded: control over the Indus River system has always been a matter of sovereignty, survival, and confrontation between Delhi and Islamabad.

Historically speaking, the Indus Waters Treaty of 1960, often hailed as a rare case of successful conflict management, has survived wars and crises. But it ha...