India Rejects Ruling: Hague Tribunal Has No Say Over Indus Waters

India-West News Desk

NEW DELHI-India has rejected a ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague that the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty with Pakistan remains binding, saying the tribunal has no jurisdiction over India’s sovereign decisions.

The dispute follows India’s decision to suspend the treaty in April last year after a horrible attack at a Kashmir tourist destination killed 26 innocent people. India identified two of the three attackers as Pakistani.

The treaty had remained in force through three wars between India and Pakistan. Its suspension has since brought the Kashmir dispute into the wider conflict over the water agreement, which covers river systems that supply 80 percent of Pakistan’s agricultural land.

Pakistan went to arbitration after India began work last year to increase reservoir storage capacity at two hydroelectric projects in the Kashmir region.

The tribunal has ruled that the treaty remains fully binding and that India had no justification for ending or suspending it. It also ordered India to restrict construction at the Ratle Hydro-Electric Plant in Kashmir. The order bars work on the dam wall and power intake structure above certain levels.

India’s Ministry of External Affairs said it does not recognize the tribunal and “categorically” rejected the ruling.

“This so-called Court of Arbitration has no jurisdiction whatsoever to pronounce on India’s sovereign decisions,” the ministry said in a statement.

India has been asking and leading in various forums that the terrorism perpetrated by Pakistan against it be noted. It has repeatedly cited instances of deadly Pakistani interference and espionage activities on its soil.