Pakistan is preparing international legal actions on the suspension of India of the Indo Water Treaty, said a government minister. ReutersAs tensions intensify among the neighbors after an attack against tourists in the Indian of Jammu and Kashmir (Iiojk).
Aqeel Malik, the Minister of State for Law and Justice, said Reuters That Islamabad was working on plans for at least three different legal options, including the problem approach to the World Bank: the treaty facilitator.
He was also considering taking measures in the Permanent Court of Arbitration or in the International Court of Justice in The Hague, where he could claim that India has violated the 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, he said.
“Legal strategy consultations are almost complete,” said Malik, adding the decision on what cases to pursue they would be “soon” and would probably include the search for more than one way.
India suspended last week the 1960 Indo Water Treaty mediated by the World Bank after the attack in Iiojk, saying that it would last until “Pakistan and irrevocably reduces its support for cross -border terrorism.”
Islamabad denies any participation in the attack in which 26 people were killed.
India affirms that two of the three assailants he has identified were from Pakistan. Islamabad has said that “any attempt to stop or divert the flow of water belonging to Pakistan … will be considered as an act of war.”
Pakistan has also suspended all trade with India and closed its airspace to Indian airlines.
Malik added that a fourth diplomatic option that Islamabad was considering was to raise the problem in the United Nations Security Council. “All options are on the table and we are doing all the appropriate and competent forums to address,” he said.
“The treaty cannot be suspended unilaterally and cannot be kept in suspense, there is no disposition within the treaty,” said Malik.
Kushvernder Vohra, a recently removed boss from the Central Water Commission of India, said: “There are very limited options (for Pakistan) … I can say that there are solid land so that we defend our action (of India).”
Government officials and experts on both sides say that India cannot stop water flows immediately, because the treaty has only allowed to build hydroelectric plants without significant storage or dams in the three rivers assigned to Pakistan.
