New Delhi: India on Thursday firmly rejected the recent award of the Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA), reiterating that the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) currently stands in abeyance. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) asserted that the PCA’s rulings are beyond its jurisdiction, lack legal basis, and carry no significance regarding India’s rightful use of the waters.
“India has never recognised the legality, legitimacy, or competence of the so-called Court of Arbitration. Its pronouncements are therefore without jurisdiction, devoid of legal standing, and have no bearing on India’s rights to utilise the waters. We also categorically reject Pakistan’s selective and misleading references to the so-called award,” MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said during a regular press briefing in New Delhi.
He added, “As reiterated earlier, the Indus Waters Treaty stands in abeyance by a sovereign decision of the Government of India, taken in response to Pakistan’s continued sponsorship of cross-border terrorism, including the barbaric Pahalgam attack.”
The MEA emphasized that India has never recognised the Court of Arbitration under law and maintains that the very constitution of this arbitral body constitutes a serious breach of the IWT. Accordingly, any proceedings, awards, or decisions by this forum are illegal and void.
Exercising its sovereign rights under international law, India has placed the IWT in abeyance until Pakistan credibly and irrevocably ceases its support for cross-border terrorism. Until such time, India is no longer bound to perform any treaty obligations. The MEA stressed that no Court of Arbitration—particularly one illegally constituted with no legal existence—has the authority to judge the legality of India’s actions in exercising its sovereign rights.
“Today, the illegally constituted Court of Arbitration, claiming to act under the Indus Waters Treaty 1960, has issued what it calls a ‘supplemental award’ regarding its competence over the Kishenganga and Ratle hydroelectric projects in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir. India therefore categorically rejects this supplemental award, as it has rejected all prior pronouncements of this body,” the MEA said following the June issuance of the award.
“This latest manoeuvre at Pakistan’s behest is yet another attempt to evade accountability for its role as a global epicentre of terrorism. Pakistan’s resort to this fabricated arbitration mechanism reflects its decades-long pattern of manipulating international forums,” the Ministry added.
