India thrashes supplemental award by ‘illegal arbitration court’ under Indus Water Treaty on 2 hydroelectric projects in Kashmir, calls it a charade at Pakistan’s behest

Government of India on Friday dismissed a Court of Arbitration under the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty as illegal, and rejected its recent rulings over Kishenganga and Ratle hydroelectric projects in Jammu and Kashmir. A statement issued by the Ministry of External Affairs said that the court was formed in brazen violation of the treaty. MEA called it a charade at Pakistan’s behest, saying it is another attempt by Pakistan to escape accountability for its role as the global epicenter of terrorism.

The statement said, “today, the illegal Court of Arbitration, purportedly constituted under the Indus Waters Treaty 1960, albeit in brazen violation of it, has issued what it characterizes as a “supplemental award” on its competence concerning the Kishenganga and Ratle hydroelectric projects in the Indian Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.”

Supplemental award issued by the Court of Arbitration refers to a follow-up decision specifically on whether the tribunal has the legal authority to hear the case about India’s Kishenganga and Ratle projects. The award was not on the projects themselves, but on the court’s jurisdiction over them.

MEA added that “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.”

Reiterating India’s right to suspend the Indus Waters Treaty, the statement 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.”

India, therefore, categorically rejects this so-called supplemental award as it has rejected all prior pronouncements of this body, MEA added in the statement.

Calling it a charade at Pakistan’s behest, the ministry said, “This latest charade at Pakistan’s behest is yet another desperate attempt by it to escape accountability for its role as the global epicenter of terrorism. Pakistan’s resort to this fabricated arbitration mechanism is consistent with its decades-long pattern of deception and manipulation of international forums.”

Notably, earlier in January this year, before the treaty was suspended by India, a World Bank-appointed neutral expert declared that it has the authority to resolve the disputes between India and Pakistan regarding two hydropower projects in Jammu and Kashmir under the terms of the Indus Waters Treaty of 1960. It was also the stand of India.

The Permanent Court of Arbitration situated in The Hague, Netherlands also endorsed the Indian government’s stand and ruled that the World Bank-appointed neutral expert ‘is competent’ to decide on the design and water usage by the Kishenganga and Ratle hydroelectric projects in India. The court had issued the order responding to a petition by Pakistan against the projects.

According to the Indus Waters Treaty’s Annexure F, paragraph 7, a neutral expert will decide a matter if the Permanent Indus Commission is unable to reach a consensus.

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