Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, June 27: India has strongly rejected the “so-called supplemental award” by an “illegal” Court of Arbitration set up supposedly over the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) and criticised Pakistan’s role in the arbitration proceedings calling it a “latest charade” and a “desperate attempt” to deflect attention from its alleged role in supporting terrorism.
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in a statement on Friday that the Court of Arbitration has no legal standing and that its very formation breached the IWT. India, the statement added, did not recognise the court or any decision emerging from it.
“This latest charade at Pakistan’s behest is yet another desperate attempt by it to escape accountability for its role as the global epicentre of terrorism,” the MEA said, adding, “Pakistan’s resort to this fabricated arbitration mechanism is consistent with its decades-long pattern of deception and manipulation of international forums.”
Calling the self-appointed panel unlawful and in “brazen violation” of the treaty itself, India’s foreign ministry unequivocally trashed its claims and “concerns.” In a five-point statement, the MEA 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.”
India reiterated that any proceedings before this tribunal, as well as its rulings, were “illegal and per se void.” The statement comes in the wake of India’s recent decision to place the IWT in abeyance following the Pahalgam terror attack on April 22 killing 26 tourists.
In light of the security situation, India said it has exercised its sovereign rights under international law to suspend its obligations under the treaty until Pakistan “credibly and irreversibly” renounces support for cross-border terrorism. During this suspension, India asserts it is no longer bound by the treaty’s terms. “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 MEA stated.
Islamabad has long raised objections to India’s hydropower developments on the western rivers of the Indus system. It first opposed the 330 MW Kishenganga project on the Jhelum River in 2006 and later, the 850 MW Ratle project on the Chenab River. Pakistan argues that the projects violate the treaty and could impact water flow into its territory.
India, however, maintains that it is well within its rights under the Indus Waters Treaty to construct run-of-the-river hydroelectric projects on the Jhelum and Chenab rivers and that adequate safeguards have been incorporated to comply with the treaty’s provisions.
Making it clear that New Delhi never considered this self-appointed, so-called ‘arbiter’ to have any locus standi in any of India’s matters, the foreign ministry stated 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.” “Consequently, any proceedings before this forum and any award or decision taken by it are also for that reason illegal and per se void,” it added.
Blaming Pakistan squarely for the IWT being put in “abeyance” after terrorist attacks in India, India also criticised the “so-called Court of Arbitration” for acting at the behest of Pakistan and highlighted that the self-appointed panel has “no existence in the eyes of the law.” India said, “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,” adding that “India, therefore, categorically rejects this so-called supplemental award as it has rejected all prior pronouncements of this body.”
India has made it amply clear that the IWT shall continue to remain in abeyance till Pakistan does not eradicate every shred of terror infrastructure and financing as well as eliminate every single terrorist on its soil. New Delhi has also sent a clear message to Pakistan and the global community that any terror activity or terrorist attack in India with links found to Pakistan will be considered an escalation which merits a military response “anywhere in Pakistan.”
The Indus Waters Treaty being kept in abeyance was one of the first diplomatically punitive measures taken by India against Pakistan after the Pahalgam terror attack was traced to have Pakistani-links. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said “blood and water cannot flow at the same time.” India has also told Pakistan that “terror and talks cannot happen at the same time either.”
Under the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty, India had, as a gesture of goodwill, graciously agreed to share the waters from the Indus river and its five tributaries – Baes, Sutlej, Ravi, Chenab, and Jhelum – in a mutually agreeable basis. According to the pact, the waters of the three ‘western rivers’ – Indus, Jhelum, and Chenab are to be released for Pakistan as per agreeable terms, while the entire volume of water from the three ‘eastern rivers’ – Baes, Sutlej, and Ravi – are for India. There are detailed terms and conditions which allows for building of dams, sharing of data annually, and multiple other factors.
