NEW DELHI: India on Friday dismissed the Court of Arbitration under the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty as illegal, firmly rejecting its authority.The ministry of external affairs snubbed the “supplemental award” by the “illegal” Court of Arbitration for asserting its authority to hear the Kishenganga and Ratle hydropower cases in Jammu and Kashmir.The ministry also highlighted that the court was constituted in violation of the Indus Waters Treaty of 1960.Supplemental award issued by the Court of Arbitration refers to a follow-up decision specifically on whether the tribunal has the legal authority (competence) to hear the case about India’s Kishenganga and Ratle projects — not on the projects themselves, but on the court’s jurisdiction.“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,” the MEA statement said.After the dastardly Pakistan-backed terrorist attack in Pahalgam, the government placed the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance.In a strong statement, the foreign ministry said the treaty will remain suspended until Pakistan “credibly and irrevocably” ceases 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 it,” the statement said.
“India, therefore, categorically rejects this so-called supplemental award as it has rejected all prior pronouncements of this body,” the issue read.Calling the move a “charade at Pakistan’s behest”, the government called the “supplemental award” another desperate attempt by Islamabad to escape accountability for its role as the global epicentre of terrorism. “Pakistan’s resort to this fabricated arbitration mechanism is consistent with its decades-long pattern of deception and manipulation of international forums,” the ministry added.Neutral expert backed Indian projectsThis year in January, a neutral expert upheld India’s stand after seven questions were raised in relation to the Kishenganga and Ratle hydroelectric projects on matters related to the Indus water treaty. “India welcomes the decision given by the neutral expert under Paragraph 7 of Annexure F to the Indus Waters Treaty, 1960. The decision upholds and vindicates India’s stand that all seven (07) questions that were referred to the Neutral Expert, in relation to the Kishenganga and Ratle hydroelectric projects, are differences falling within his competence under the Treaty,” MEA said after the decision.
Significance of IWT
“It has been India’s consistent and principled position that the Neutral Expert alone has the competence under the treaty to decide these differences. Having upheld his own competence, which comports with India’s view, the neutral expert will now proceed to the next (merits) phase of his proceeding. This phase will culminate in a final decision on the merits of each of the seven differences,” it added.In 2017, the World Bank, which is the facilitator of the treaty, had said that India was allowed to construct hydroelectric power facilities on tributaries of the Jhelum and Chenab rivers with certain restrictions under the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty (IWT).What is Indus Waters Treaty?IWT was signed between India and Pakistan for sharing of waters of the Indus Basin. Under the treaty, the total waters of the eastern rivers – Sutlej, Beas and Ravi – was allocated to India for unrestricted use while the waters of western rivers – Indus, Jhelum and Chenab – was allocated largely to Pakistan.
India is, however, permitted to use the water of western rivers for domestic use, irrigation and generation of hydro-electric power. But India has not been fully utilising its legal share due to lack of storage capacity. Though India has right to create water storage capacity up to 3.6 million acre-feet on western rivers as per IWT, not enough storage capacity has been created. Besides, out of estimated power potential of 20,000 MW, which can be harnessed from power projects on western rivers, only 3,482 MW capacity has been constructed.ALSO READ: After suspending Indus pact, India mulls tweaking Ganges water treaty; what it means for Bangladesh
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