A monumental victory 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 declared that the contract remained legally binding and that neither party could unilaterally suspend or terminate it.
The PCA ruled that India must stop the construction of the Ratle hydroelectric dam and prohibited India from concreting the dam above a certain level. Furthermore, in a third interim measure, the PCA asked India to inform the court, Pakistan and the presiding neutral expert of any changes to the plant’s construction plan.
Finally, the PCA rejected India’s decision to “put on hold” the contract due to the… Attack in 2025 in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir. The court said that this “pending” decision could only mean that India had unilaterally suspended or terminated the contract, which was not permitted by any of the provisions therein.
The Islamic Republic of Pakistan started Arbitration proceedings against the Republic of India in August 2016 over objections to two large hydroelectric power plants. Pakistan’s official arbitration request was submitted in accordance with the PCA 1960 Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) Framework says:
Given the historical, political and geographical characteristics of the Indus Basin, the Treaty created a unique legal system for the allocation and control of water flows from the Indus river system…The disputes in this application concern India’s violation of the specific restrictions imposed on its hydroelectric use of the western rivers and its attempt to design and construct facilities that would improperly enable it to control and manipulate water flows from the rivers over which the Treaty had provided that it would have no such ability.
India is allowed to use the waters of the Western Rivers to generate hydroelectric power, but “this use is strictly limited and subject to various restrictions on the design, construction and operation of power plants.”
Pakistan and India have been there for a long time conflict due to territorial disputes and tensions over water rights.
The Indus Waters TreatyThe agreement, signed in 1960, was brokered by the World Bank. It allocates the waters of the eastern Ravi, Sutlej and Beas rivers to India and most of the waters of the western Indus, Jhelum and Chenab rivers to Pakistan. The PCA’s decision is considered a Victory for Pakistan.
