Islamabad:
The Minister of Water Resources, Moeen Wattoo, criticized India on Thursday for trying to “flee” from the Indo Water Treaty (IWT) in total contempt for the ruling of the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) earlier this week.
The minister reacted to the declaration of the Ministry of External Affairs of India, saying that the International Court of Arbitration lacks any legal authority to pronounce on the Treaty of the Water of the India between India and Pakistan as New Delhi has never recognized the legitimacy of the Court.
A decision of the Arbitration Court last week supported Pakistan saying that India must adhere to the Treaty of Indo’s waters in the design of new hydroelectric energy stations in rivers that flow west towards Pakistan.
Signed in 1960, the IWT granted three rivers that flow west to Pakistan and three rivers that flow east to India. In 2023, Pakistan approached the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in The Hague on the design of Indian hydroelectric projects in rivers assigned to Pakistan.
In a decision on Monday, PCA affirmed its jurisdiction and declared that the IWT “does not allow India to generate hydroelectric energy in the Western rivers based on what could be the ideal approach or the best practices for engineering.”
The Court added that India must “strictly” adhere to the specifications of the treaty and “let the waters of the Western rivers flow” for the “unrestricted use” of Pakistan. Pakistan Attorney General Mansoor Usman said that the PCA had accepted the Pakistan position.
However, the spokesman of the Foreign Ministry of India, Randhir Jaiswal, told reporters that India “had never accepted the legality, legitimacy or competence” of the Court, qualifying its pronouncements “without jurisdiction” and devoid of legal position.
He said India remained in the decision to keep the IWT in suspense. Wattoo completely rejected Delhi’s statement. The minister told a private news channel that India’s position had no foundation and incorrect.
“According to any article of the agreement, India or Pakistan cannot end this agreement,” he said, adding that the PCA had already dismissed similar objections from India. “The letter from India that seeks the modification of the treaty had no legal coverage.”
India suspended the IWT in April after an attack on the pahalgama of busy Kashmir that killed 26 tourists, an incident that blamed Islamabad without evidence. Pakistan warned that any attempt to stop their participation in the water would be an “act of war.”
The PCA supplementary prize in June declared that India could not hold the suspense treaty. India said again that he did not recognize the authority of the court.
In response to the Posture of the MEA spokesman, the Water Minister told a digital media website: “India wants to escape this agreement (IWT). According to any article of the agreement, India or Pakistan cannot end this agreement.”
He said that India’s statement was “unfounded and incorrect,” adding that Pakistan rejected him.
“The court has already said that he has the power to decide. India had made this claim before, that the court has rejected.”
He said that a letter from India at the beginning of the year seeks modification in the treaty had no legal coverage and that the country could not make a decision unilaterally with respect to the IWT.
