Pakistan urges India to fulfil water treaty obligations after PCA ruling

Monitoring Desk

ISLAMABAD: The Foreign Office on Monday welcomed the decision by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague to issue a “supplemental award” in the Indus Waters case, urging India to resume the functioning of the Treaty, which it has held in abeyance since May.
According to the PCA’s rules, a supplemental award is an additional ruling issued by a court or tribunal after its initial decision, usually to address a specific issue that wasn’t fully resolved or to clarify certain points, such as jurisdiction, competence, or interpretation of a treaty or agreement.
The FO urged India to “immediately resume the normal functioning of the Indus Waters Treaty, and fulfil its treaty obligations, wholly and faithfully.”
Pakistan earlier welcomed the decision by the PCA to issue a “Supplemental Award of Competence” in the Indus Waters case, reiterating that India could not unilaterally hold the treaty in abeyance.
According to the government’s statement, Pakistan welcomed the PCA’s decision and stated that the court affirmed its competence despite India’s unilateral action against the IWT.
“Pakistan looks forward to receiving the court’s award on the first phase on the merits in due course following the hearing that was held in Peace Palace in The Hague in July 2024,” the statement read.
“The high priority, at this point, is that India and Pakistan find a way back to a meaningful dialogue, including on the application of the Indus Waters Treaty,” the government said, reiterating remarks made by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif that Pakistan was “ready to engage in a meaningful dialogue with India on all outstanding issues, including Jammu and Kashmir, water, trade and terrorism”.
The Indian Ministry for External Affairs had “categorically rejected” the PCA’s supplemental award and stated that it did not recognise the court itself, according to Indian newspaper The Hindu.
“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 and 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 ministry maintained.
According to The Hindu, the MEA said that after the Pahalgam attack, India exercised “its rights as a sovereign nation under international law” and placed the IWT in abeyance “until Pakistan credibly and irrevocably abjures its support for cross-border terrorism”. The ministry additionally described the Court of Arbitration’s latest declarations as a “charade at Pakistan’s behest”.