Pakistan prepares international trial of India’s suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty, a government minister told ReutersWhen tensions intensify between the neighbors after an attack on tourists in the Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK).
Aqeel Malik, Prime Minister of Law and Justice, told Reuters That Islamabad worked with plans for at least three different legal options, including raising the issue on the World Bank – the facilitator of the treaty.
It also considered intervening at the permanent arbitration court or in the International Court of Justice in The Hague, where it could argue that India has violated the Vienna Treaty Act in 1969, he said.
“Consultations for legal strategy is almost complete,” Malik said, adding that the decision on what cases to pursue would be made “soon” and will probably include the persecution of more than an Avenue.
Last week, India suspended World Bank Mediered Indus Waters Treaty in 1960 after the attack in IIOJK and said it would last until “Pakistan credibly and irrevocably abjur the support of cross-border terrorism”.
Islamabad denies any involvement in the attack in which 26 people were killed.
India claims that two of three attacks it identified were from Pakistan. Islamabad has said “any attempt to stop or divert the flow of water belonging to Pakistan … will be considered an act of war”.
Pakistan has also suspended all trade in India and closed its airspace to Indian Airlines.
Malik added that a fourth diplomatic option that Islamabad considered was to raise the question in the United Nations Security Council. “All possibilities are on the table, and we are all pursuing appropriate and competent forums to approach,” he said.
“The treaty cannot be suspended unilaterally and cannot be held in accordance, there is no (such one) provision in the treaty,” Malik said.
KUSHVINFER VOHRA, a recently retired leader of India’s central water commission, said, “There are very limited opportunities (for Pakistan) … I can say that there are solid reasons for us to defend our (India) action.”
Government officials and experts on both sides say that India cannot stop water currents immediately because the treaty has allowed it to build only hydropower plants without significant storage or dams on the three rivers assigned to Pakistan.
