Int'l court rejects India's objections over water dispute with Pakistan

KARACHI, Pakistan

The Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) on Thursday rejected India's objections to its jurisdiction over New Delhi's dispute with arch-rival Pakistan on two key hydropower projects. India rejected the ruling.

The PCA, according to a statement from the international forum, announced the decision in The Hague, ruling that it has the “competence” to consider matters concerning the 330-megawatt Kishanganga and the 850MW Ratle hydroelectric projects, which have long been a source of contention between the two nuclear rivals.

The PCA ruling came after a lingering legal battle between the two neighbors who, apart from water-sharing, are locked in a string of land and sea disputes, including Jammu and Kashmir.

The court is now set to begin hearing Pakistan's objections to the designs of the two projects, which Islamabad considers as a breach of the Indus Water Treaty (IWT).

The two longtime rivals share the water of six rivers under the IWT, a water-sharing agreement brokered by the World Bank in 1960.

Under the agreement, the waters of the eastern rivers – the Sutlej, Beas and Ravi – have been allocated to India, while the three western rivers – the Indus, Jhelum and Chenab – go to Pakistan.

Pakistan accuses India of "continuously" violating the treaty by building dams on the western rivers, whereas New Delhi thinks Islamabad controls more water than New Delhi as a result of the treaty.

India is also locked in a water dispute with China on Beijing’s construction of dams and proposed diversion of the Brahmaputra River, which originates in Tibet and provides a third of India’s needs for irrigation.

- Pakistan welcomes ruling

Pakistan welcomed the ruling, terming it a "way forward" on disputes with India.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said in a statement that the IWT is a "foundational" agreement between Pakistan and India on water sharing, and Islamabad remains "fully committed to the treaty’s implementation, including its dispute settlement mechanism."

"We hope that India would also implement the treaty in good faith," she maintained.

India rejects ruling

The PCA was established in 2022 by the World Bank, a guarantor of the IWT, after New Delhi and Islamabad failed to resolve the protracted dispute through negotiations.

Rejecting the PCA ruling, India said that it cannot be "compelled to recognize or participate in illegal and parallel proceedings not envisaged" by the IWT.

"We have seen a press release issued by the PCA mentioning that an illegally-constituted so-called Court of Arbitration has ruled that it has the ‘competence’ to consider matters concerning the Kishenganga and Ratle hydroelectric projects," India Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Contending that India’s consistent and principled position has been that the "constitution" of the so-called Court of Arbitration "is in contravention of the provisions" of the treaty, the ministry said a neutral expert is already seized of the differences pertaining to the Kishenganga and Ratle projects.

"The neutral expert proceedings are the only treaty-consistent proceedings at this juncture. The treaty does not provide for parallel proceedings on the same set of issues," it said.

According to Foreign Ministry, India has been participating in the treaty-consistent neutral expert proceedings.

The last meeting of the neutral expert took place at The Hague on February 27-28, while the next meeting of the neutral expert process is scheduled to be held in September 2023.

"The government of India has been in talks with the government of Pakistan regarding the modification of the Indus Waters Treaty under Article XII (3) of the treaty,” the statement said, adding that the recent development only underlines why such modification is so necessary."

*Anadolu staff in Ankara also contributed to this story