Jurist Arbitration court orders India to honor water-sharing agreement with Pakistan

[Dadparvar]

In a monumental win for Pakistan, a panel for the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) on Monday held that India must honor a nearly 70-year-old water treaty with Pakistan. The court said that the treaty remained legally binding and that no party could unilaterally suspend or terminate it.

The PCA ruled that India must halt the construction of the Ratle Hydro-Electric Plant and prohibited India from concreting the dam above a certain level. Additionally, in a third interim measure, the PCA required India to notify the court, Pakistan, and the presiding neutral expert of any changes to the plant’s construction schedule.

Finally, the PCA rejected India’s decision to hold the treaty “in abeyance” due to the 2025 attack in India-administered Jammu and Kashmir. The court said that this “in abeyance” decision could only mean that India has unilaterally suspended or terminated the treaty, which was not authorized by any provision therein.

The Islamic Republic of Pakistan commenced arbitral proceedings against the Republic of India in August of 2016 due to objections over two major hydroelectric plants. Pakistan’s official Request for Arbitration submitted to the PCA under the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) framework states:

In light of the historical, political, and geographical realities of the Indus basin, the Treaty established a unique legal regime for dividing and managing flows of water from the Indus system of rivers … The Disputes in this Request concern India’s violation of the specific restrictions placed on its hydroelectric use of the Western Rivers and its attempt to design and construct plants that would impermissibly give it the ability to control and manipulate flows of water from those rivers where the Treaty contemplated that it would have no such capability.

India is permitted to use the waters of the Western Rivers for hydroelectric power generation, but “that use is strictly limited and subject to various constraints on the design, construction, and operation of power plants.”

Pakistan and India have long been in conflict due to territorial disputes and tensions over water rights.

The Indus Waters Treaty, signed in 1960, was brokered by the World Bank. It allocates waters of the eastern Ravi, Sutlej and Beas Rivers to India and most of the waters from the western Indus, Jhelum and Chenab rivers to Pakistan. The PCA’s decision is viewed as a victory for Pakistan.

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