India on Friday rejected “illegal” Court of Arbitration’s ruling that issued a “supplemental award” on its competence concerning the Kishenganga and Ratle hydroelectric projects, being built on the Indus river system in Jammu and Kashmir.
Calling the move a “charade at Pakistan’s behest,” India called the ruling another deserate attempt by Islamabad to escape accountability for its role as the global epicentre of terrorism.
A statement by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) noted that India never recognised the existence in law of the so-called Court of Arbitration and that the body, which was purportedly constituted under the Indus Waters Treaty 1960, is in itself a violation of it.
The development comes after India paused the Indus Waters Treaty, a water-sharing agreement between India and Pakistan brokered by the World Bank, in the aftermath of the Pahalgam terror attack on April 22, which killed 26 people.
“Today, the illegal Court of Arbitration, purportedly constituted under the Indus Waters Treaty 1960, albeit in brazen violation of it, has issued what it characterizes as a ‘supplemental award’ on its competence concerning the Kishenganga and Ratle hydroelectric projects in the Indian Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir,” it said.
A supplemental award issued by the Court of Arbitration is a follow-up decision on whether the body has the authority to hear a particular matter, which in this was the case about India’s Kishanganga and Ratle projects.
“India has never recognised the existence in law of this so-called Court of Arbitration, and India’s position has all along been that the constitution of this so-called arbitral body is in itself a serious breach of the Indus Waters Treaty. Consequently any proceedings before this forum and any award or decision taken by it are also for that reason illegal and per se void,” the statement read.
The MEA statement also reiterated that the Indus Water Treaty will remain suspended until “Pakistan credibly and irrevocably abjures its support for cross-border terrorism”.
“Until such time that the Treaty is in abeyance, India is no longer bound to perform any of its obligations under the Treaty. No Court of Arbitration, much less this illegally constituted arbitral body which has no existence in the eye of law, has the jurisdiction to examine the legality of India’s actions in exercise of its rights as a sovereign,” it further said.
The goverment also snubbed Pakistan for resorting to a “fabricated arbitration mechanism,” which it said is “consistent with its decades-long pattern of deception and manipulation of international forums.”
