Pakistan has welcomed an international court’s ruling that interprets the designed criteria for the new run-of-river hydropower projects, to be constructed by India on the Western Rivers (Chenab, Jhelum, and Indus), saying it vindicates its position on the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) that India put in abeyance after the Pahalgam terrorist attack.
India, however, has never recognised the Permanent Court of Arbitration that was reported to have declared that India shall ‘let flow’ the waters of the Western Rivers for Pakistan’s unrestricted use. India had instead focused on the neutral expert mechanism.
“In that connection, the specified exceptions for generation of hydro-electric plants must conform strictly to the requirements laid down in the treaty, rather than to what India might consider an ‘ideal’ or ‘best practices’ approach,” said the Pakistan foreign office on Monday.
While an official response from India is expected on Wednesday, sources here recalled India had earlier issued a notification for modification of the IWT against the background of a prolonged controversy with respect to Kishanganga and Ratle Hydro Projects in J&K. India never accepted World Bank’s decision to simultaneously activate both the neutral expert mechanism and, at Pakistan’s insistence, the Court of Arbitration on the same set of issues. This was also the reason India had called for reconsideration of the dispute resolution mechanism under the treaty.
The World Bank in Oct 2022 appointed not just a neutral expert but also a Court of Arbitration despite acknowledging India’s concern that carrying out the two processes concurrently posed practical and legal challenges.
Pakistan said after the ruling on Monday it is committed to the full implementation of the IWT and urged India to immediately resume the normal functioning of the agreement. India maintains that the IWT will remain in abeyance till Pakistan takes credible and irrevocable action against cross-border terrorism.
