Two months ago, the decades-long tensions between India and Pakistan escalated into military attacks against one another. In the midst of this escalation, India unilaterally suspended its participation in the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) a decades-long agreement between the two nations regarding use of the river system. On Friday, June 27, the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in the Hague affirmed that it still has jurisdiction over the Indus Water Treaty (IWT) and no party can unilaterally suspend participation in it. Following this, Pakistan called on India to immediately return to full compliance with the treaty.
In a statement issued on Monday, June 30, Pakistan’s Foreign Office claimed that “the award vindicates Pakistan’s position that the IWT remains valid and operational, and that India has no right to take a unilateral action about it.”
The PCA said in its “supplemental award” on Friday, June 27, that unilateral actions by a party do not limit its jurisdiction over a process which has already been initiated and that its rulings on the matter are binding on all the parties of the treaty.
The IWT was signed in 1960 to share the water of the Indus and its five tributaries between India and Pakistan. Under the treaty, India has the right to use water from the southern tributaries Ravi, Beas, and Sutlej while Pakistan has the rights to northern Indus, Jhelum, and Chenab rivers. It was signed under the mediation of the World Bank.
Rising tensions between India and Pakistan
Following the attacks in Pahalgam, inside Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir, on April 22 in which 26 civilians – mostly tourists – were killed, India accused Pakistan of being behind the attacks. It announced it was putting the IWT in abeyance for an indefinite period until Pakistan stops its alleged support for anti-India “terrorist groups”.
Despite Pakistan denying any role in the attacks, India later launched air strikes at several locations inside Pakistan, which brought the nuclear-powered neighbors to the brink of war in May.
An ongoing arbitration process under the IWT was initiated by Pakistan in 2016 over its objections to India’s two hydroelectric projects in Kishanganga and Ratle, in Jammu and Kashmir. Pakistan argued that the designs of these projects were in violation of the IWT and may affect the flow of water from the Jhelum and Chenab rivers.
Friday’s supplemental award would mean that the PCA may continue the proceedings over the 2016 arbitration and that its verdict, whenever issued, would be binding on both parties irrespective of the fact that India has put the treaty on abeyance.
Pakistan offers diplomatic engagement
Pakistan also reiterated its offer for restarting political engagements with India to resolve all the existing issues, including the IWT, as well as resuming normal relations between both the countries, The Express Tribune reported.
Diplomatic engagement between the two countries has been suspended by India for years now over the issue of alleged Pakistani support for anti-India armed/terrorist groups.
India had even refused to participate in the arbitration process directly when it was initiated in 2016. It rather used the World Bank to present its side in the process, which retains a limited procedural role in the dispute settlement under the treaty.
In a press release on Friday, India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) rejected the supplemental award, claiming that India has “never recognized the existence in law of this so-called court of arbitration.”
The court has denied any basis for unilateral disengagement under the IWT and it can only be dissolved through a mutual agreement. It also denied any possibility of non-recognition of the proceedings of arbitration once the process for the same has begun.
“Until such time 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 eyes of law, has the jurisdiction to examine the legality of India’s actions in exercise of its rights as sovereign,” India’s MEA claimed.
India had even threatened to stop the flow of water from the rivers of the Indus system into Pakistan following the announcement of the IWT abeyance. A move that would put the lives of millions of people in Pakistan at risk because they are dependent on the water from these rivers for drinking, irrigation of crops, and other basic necessities.
