The Indus River as it runs through Hyderabad, Pakistan, on April 25. Although the Permanent Court of Arbitration has issued a ruling in Pakistan’s favor, the country’s water treaty impasse with India is likely to continue as the court lacks enforcement powers. © Reuters
ISLAMABAD — With a ruling handed down last week by the Permanent Court of Arbitration that favors its position, Pakistan is now calling on India to resume the implementation of a bilateral water-sharing treaty. Experts say that while the ruling strengthens Islamabad’s legal position, New Delhi is unlikely to go back to abiding by the treaty.
The 65-year-old Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) grants Pakistan rights to water from the Indus, Jhelum and Chenab rivers, while granting India control of the Ravi, Sutlej and Beas rivers. Following a deadly attack on tourists in India-administered Kashmir in April, New Delhi blamed Pakistan and unilaterally declared the treaty to be in abeyance.
On Friday, the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) rendered a supplemental award — an additional ruling issued by a court or tribunal to clarify jurisdiction or competence, or give an interpretation of a treaty. The court stated that the IWT does not allow unilateral abeyance or suspension. “The Treaty continues in force until terminated with the mutual consent of India and Pakistan,” a PCA statement says.
“In a unanimous decision, which is binding on the Parties and without appeal, the Court found that India’s position on ‘abeyance’ of the treaty does not limit the competence of the Court over this dispute,” the statement goes on to say.
This award followed Pakistan’s invocation of the PCA in The Hague, utilizing one of the treaty’s stipulations.
A general view of the Peace Palace in The Hague, Netherlands, in April 2024, which houses the Permanent Court of Arbitration. A court ruling in Pakistan’s favor is being called “a procedural win” for the country in its legal dispute with India. © ReutersPakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs welcomed the PCA statement. “The Award vindicates Pakistan’s position that the Indus Waters Treaty remains valid and operational, and that India has no right to take unilateral action about it,” the ministry said in a statement on Monday.
“This award is a strong validation of Pakistan’s position that any disputes relating to IWT can only be adjudicated within competent forums as the treaty itself envisages,” Erum Sattar, a lecturer who researches the Indus at Tufts University in the U.S., told Nikkei Asia.
Hassan Akbar, a policy analyst based in Islamabad, agrees. “This is a significant first step in creating the legal foundations of Pakistan’s case that India has acted unilaterally and illegally under international law in its decision to hold the treaty in abeyance,” he told Nikkei.
In the backdrop of the PCA award, Pakistan is urging India to abide by the IWT.
“We urge India to immediately resume the normal functioning of the Indus Waters Treaty, and fulfil its treaty obligations,” Pakistan’s foreign ministry said in the statement on Monday.
Pakistanis protest India’s unilateral suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty, in Karachi on April 24. India’s dismissal of an international court ruling is being called part of a global trend in which power politics is sidelining the rule of law. © ReutersIndia, however, has rejected the PCA ruling.
“India has never recognized 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,” India’s Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement after the PCA announcement. “Any proceedings before this forum and any award or decision taken by it are also, for that reason, illegal, and per se void.”
Naseer Memon, a climate change consultant based in Karachi, sees New Delhi holding firm. “India has already disregarded the covenants of IWT by unilaterally suspending the treaty,” he said. “[And the PCA] does not have any enforcement mechanism, in any case.”
Khalid Rehman, chairman of the Institute of Policy Studies, an Islamabad-based think tank, said India’s dismissal of the ruling is part of a troubling global trend in which power politics sidelines the rule of law. “This trend affects not only the IWT but also raises serious concerns about the global governance framework,” he told Nikkei.
Still, Sattar from Tufts University considers the award “a procedural win” for Pakistan, for now.
“Pakistan,” she said, “by proceeding as a responsible actor within the framework of international law, has a much better chance of having its final substantive claims on [the IWT] validated.”
The article appeared in the asia.nikkei