Islamabad:
Water Resources Minister Moeen Wattoo slammed India on Thursday for trying to “run away” from the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) in total ignoring permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) decision earlier this week.
The Minister responded to India’s declaration of external affairs and said the International Court of Arbitration is missing any legal authority to comment on the Indus Waters Treaty between India and Pakistan, as New Delhi has never recognized the legitimacy of the courts.
A decision by the arbitration court last week supported Pakistan by saying that India must comply with the Indus Waters Treaty in the design of new hydroelectric power plants on rivers flowing west into Pakistan.
IWT, which was signed in 1960, awarded three west -flagging rivers to Pakistan and three East Floating Rivers to India. In 2023, Pakistan turned to the permanent arbitration court (PCA) in The Hague of the Designed by Indian Hydroelectric Projects on Rivers awarded to Pakistan.
In a decision on Monday, PCA confirmed its jurisdiction and stated that IWT “does not allow India to generate hydroelectric power on the Western rivers based on what may be the ideal or best practice approach to technique”.
The court added that India must comply with “strictly” to treaty specifications and “let flow” the western rivers’ waters of Pakistan’s “unlimited use”. Attorney General for Pakistan Mansoor Usman said that PCA had accepted Pakistan’s attitude.
However, the Indian spokesman for external affairs, Randhir Jaiswal, journalists, said that India had “never accepted the legality, legitimacy or competence” of the court, termed its statements “without jurisdiction” and devoid of legal status.
He said that India stood by his decision to keep IWT in accordance. Wattoo Direct Delhi’s claim. The minister told a private news channel that India’s attitude was groundless and wrong.
“According to any article in the agreement, India or Pakistan cannot terminate this agreement,” he said, adding that PCA had already rejected similar objections from India. “India’s letter sought change of the treaty had no legal coverage.”
India suspended IWT in April after an attack in the occupied Kashmir’s Pahaldam, which killed 26 tourists – an incident that it accused on Islamabad without evidence. Pakistan warned that any attempt to stop its water share would be an “act of war.”
PCA’s supplementary award in June stated that India could not hold the Treaty in Abeyance. India again said it did not recognize the authority of the court.
In response to the MEA spokesman’s attitude, the Minister of Water at a digital Mediew residence said: “India wants to run away from this Agreement (IWT). According to any article in the Agreement, India or Pakistan cannot terminate this agreement.”
He said that India’s claim was “groundless and wrong” and added that Pakistan rejected it.
“The court has already said that it has the power to decide. India had made this claim before, which the court has rejected.”
He said that a letter from India earlier this year seeking a change in the treaty had no legal coverage and that the country could not unilaterally make a decision on IWT.
