Indus Waters Treaty: India rejects ‘illegal' arbitration court's authority, calls it ‘charade' at Pak behest
India on Friday rejected the authority of an arbitration court 'illegally' formed under the Indus Waters Treaty after the body issued a 'supplemental award' on its competence to hear cases on the Kishenganga and Ratle hydroelectric projects in Jammu & Kashmir.
The Indian government has consistently opposed the proceedings of The Hague-based Court of Arbitration ever since its constitution by the World Bank in October 2022.
In a statement Friday, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) termed the move as the 'latest charade at Pakistan's behest' and said that this is an attempt by Islamabad to escape accountability for its role as the global epicentre of terrorism.
'India has never recognised the existence in law of this so-called Court of Arbitration, and India's position has all along been that the constitution of this so-called arbitral body is in itself a serious breach of the Indus Waters Treaty and consequently any proceedings before this forum and any award or decision taken by it are also for that reason illegal and per se void,' said an MEA statement.
The Court of Arbitration had said Thursday that India's position of holding the treaty in abeyance 'does not deprive the Court of Arbitration of competence'.
India is constructing the Kishenganga project on the Kishenganga river, a tributary of the Jhelum, and the Ratle project on the Chenab river.
In 2015, Pakistan objected to their design features and moved the World Bank to seek a settlement through a neutral expert. But it withdrew its request a year later and asked for adjudication through a Court of Arbitration instead.
India, for its part, sought a neutral expert to rule on the differences. On October 13, 2022, the World Bank appointed Michal Lino as the neutral expert. The same day, it also appointed a Court of Arbitration.
India has opposed the court since then, saying it could not be 'compelled to recognise illegal and parallel proceedings not envisaged by the Treaty'.
India has continued participating in the 'Treaty-consistent Neutral Expert proceedings'.
The MEA statement on Friday said: 'Following the Pahalgam terrorist attack, India has in exercise of its rights as a sovereign nation under international law, placed the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance, until Pakistan credibly and irrevocably abjures its support for cross-border terrorism. Until such time that the Treaty is in abeyance, India is no longer bound to perform any of its obligations under the Treaty. No Court of Arbitration, much less this illegally constituted arbitral body which has no existence in the eye of law, has the jurisdiction to examine the legality of India's actions in exercise of its rights as a sovereign.'
The Indus Waters Treaty was signed on September 19, 1960, after nine years of negotiations between India and Pakistan. Then Indian Prime Minister Pt Jawaharlal Nehru and then Pakistani President Mohammed Ayub Khan signed the treaty in Karachi. The treaty has 12 Articles and 8 Annexures (from A to H). As per the provisions of the treaty, all the water of 'Eastern Rivers'— Sutlej, Beas and Ravi—shall be available for the 'unrestricted use' of India. However, Pakistan shall receive water from 'Western Rivers'—Indus, Jhelum and Chenab.
In January 2023, India had issued a notice to Pakistan seeking the 'modification' of the Treaty. This was the first such notice in the more than six decades of the Treaty's existence.
India upped the ante in September 2024, by issuing Islamabad another formal notice, this time seeking the 'review and modification' of the IWT. The word 'review', according to experts, effectively signals New Delhi's intent to revoke, and renegotiate the Treaty which will turn 65 this year. India decided to keep in abeyance the IWT on April 23 Pahalgam terror attack, in which militants killed at least 26 people and injured another 10.
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