NEW DELHI: The international Court of Arbitration lacks any legal authority to make pronouncements on the Indus Waters Treaty between India and Pakistan as New Delhi has never recognized the legitimacy of the court, India’s foreign ministry said on Thursday.
A ruling from the Court of Arbitration last week backed Pakistan by saying that India must adhere to the Indus Waters Treaty in the design of new hydro-electric power stations on rivers that flow west into Pakistan.
Under the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty, three rivers that flow westwards were awarded to Pakistan, with India getting three eastern flowing rivers. Pakistan fears its neighbor India could choke its main water supply, with 80 percent of the country’s agriculture and hydro-power dependent on those three river flows.
In 2023, Pakistan brought a case to the Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration over the design of Indian hydro-power projects on rivers that were awarded to Pakistan under the treaty.
The court, in a ruling on Friday that was posted on its website on Monday, said it had jurisdiction over the dispute and ruled the treaty “does not permit India to generate hydro-electric power on the Western Rivers based on what might be the ideal or best practices approach for engineering” of these projects.
