India rejects Court of Arbitration's Indus Waters Treaty award as illegally constituted

File photo: "No jurisdiction": India rejects "illegally constituted" Court of Arbitration's Indus Waters Treaty award

NEW DELHI: Govt slammed an award by the “illegally constituted so-called Court of Arbitration (CoA)” concerning interim measures and status of the Indus Waters Treaty, recalling India’s position that the court has no jurisdiction to pronounce on India’s sovereign decisions. India had responded similarly to another award issued by the court in May this year. On this occasion though, according to a Reuters report from Amsterdam, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague said that India must uphold the Indus Waters Treaty with Pakistan and must also limit work on an hydroelectric plant it is building in J&K. Govt maintains that this court was created in violation of the 1960 IWT which in any case has been put in abeyance by India because of Pakistan’s support to cross-border terrorism. “Today, the illegally constituted so-called Court of Arbitration has issued what it termed as an award concerning Interim Measures and Status of the Indus Waters Treaty. This so-called court was constituted by World Bank in patent breach of terms of the Treaty and India categorically rejects its so-called award, just as it has firmly rejected all prior pronouncements by this illegally constituted body,” MEA said. The ministry said that India has never recognised the existence in law of this illegally-constituted and so-called Court of Arbitration, and has consistently maintained that the very establishment of this alleged arbitral body constitutes a grave violation of the Indus Waters Treaty.

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“Accordingly, India has never appeared before this body and has refused to take any cognisance of its earlier pronouncements,” it said, adding that the court’s awards, now or in the future, will have no effect on India’s actions in connection with the projects being undertaken by India. The MEA also reiterated India’s decision to hold the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance remains in force. The Permanent Court of Arbitration said the Indus Water Treaty remained fully in force, as India had no justification for ending or suspending the agreement. “India must observe its obligations under the Treaty, including those relating to the design and operation of its hydro-electric projects on the Western Rivers,” the intergovernmental court said.

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