NEW DELHI: India has rejected an international arbitration decision in its river water dispute with Pakistan.
The Indian government said the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in The Hague does not have the competence to consider matters related to the Kishenganga and Ratle hydroelectric projects.
Pakistan, citing provisions of the Indus Waters Treaty of 1960, had objected to the Indian projects located on tributaries of the Jhelum and the Chenab rivers in the Jammu and Kashmir region and initiated the arbitration proceedings in 2016.
The Hague tribunal on Thursday dismissed India’s objections to the case brought against it by Pakistan.
“In these proceedings, Pakistan requests the Court of Arbitration to address the interpretation and application of the Indus Waters Treaty to certain design elements of the run-of-river hydro-electric projects that India is permitted by the Treaty to construct on the tributaries of the Indus, Jhelum, and Chenab, before those rivers flow into Pakistan,” the PCA said in a statement.
“In a unanimous decision, which is binding on the Parties and without appeal, the Court rejected each of the objections raised by India and determined that the Court is competent to consider and determine the disputes set forth in Pakistan’s Request for Arbitration,” it said.
Referring to India’s boycott of the proceedings, the tribunal said a party’s “nonappearance does not deprive the Court of competence, nor does it have any effect on the establishment and functioning of the Court, including the final and binding nature of its awards.”
Reacting to the development, the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi said on Thursday: “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 Indus Waters Treaty.”
The ministry said a “Neutral Expert is already seized of the differences” related to the two projects and “India cannot be compelled to recognize or participate in illegal and parallel proceedings not envisaged by the Treaty.”
In October 2022, the World Bank, which has certain responsibilities in its “limited and procedural” role under the Indus Waters Treaty, appointed the Neutral Expert, and the Chairman of the Court of Arbitration.
According to the World Bank, Pakistan had asked it to facilitate the establishment of a Court of Arbitration to consider its concerns about the designs of the two hydroelectric power projects, while India asked for the appointment of a Neutral Expert to consider similar concerns.
“The two mechanisms are independent. The Treaty vests the authority in both mechanisms to determine their own jurisdiction and competence as well as the power to decide on their rules of procedure,” the World Bank says in a fact sheet, last updated on its website in June 2023, on the Indus Waters Treaty. — BERNAMA
