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Hague: The Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) on Monday ordered India to uphold the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) with Pakistan and suspend work on a hydro project in occupied Kashmir.<\/p>\n Hague: The Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) on Monday ordered India to uphold the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) with Pakistan and suspend work on a hydro project in occupied Kashmir.<\/p>\n
According to Kashmir Media Service, water and the IWT remain a contentious issue between India and Pakistan, following New Delhi\u2019s unilateral abeyance of the accord in April last year \u2014 a move that was followed by a brief military conflict between the two sides in May 2025.<\/p>\n
Following India\u2019s move, Pakistan termed any attempt to suspend its water share an \u201cact of war\u201d, noting the IWT had no provision for unilateral suspension. It later argued that Delhi\u2019s action was a violation of the 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties.<\/p>\n
In its order, the PCA backed Pakistan\u2019s stance, declaring that the IWT between the two countries remained fully in force, as India had no justification for ending or suspending the agreement.<\/p>\n
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The Hague-based court issued an award on the status of the IWT \u201cin respect of India\u2019s decision on abeyance\u201d and an order on Pakistan\u2019s application dated March 4 regarding \u201cinterim measures\u201d concerning the Ratle hydro-electric plant.<\/p>\n
In a press release detailing its ruling, the PCA said, “It examined the potential grounds upon which India could suspend or terminate the treaty, including the grounds cited by India in its public statements.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIn a unanimous decision, the court found that none of these grounds could justify suspension or termination of the treaty.\u201d<\/p>\n
It declared that the IWT \u201cremains fully in force, and India must observe its obligations under the treaty, including those relating to the design and operation of its hydro-electric projects on the Western Rivers\u201d.<\/p>\n
The IWT allocates the eastern rivers \u2014 Ravi, Beas and Sutlej \u2014 to India, while the western rivers \u2014 Indus, Jhelum and Chenab \u2014 are largely allocated to Pakistan. The 1960 water-sharing agreement has also established mechanisms for data-sharing and dispute resolution.<\/p>\n
The proceedings concerned the interpretation of IWT as a \u201cgeneral matter\u201d, as well as in the context of India\u2019s Kishenganga Hydro-Electric Plant (KHEP) and the Ratle Hydro-Electric Plant (RHEP).<\/p>\n
The court noted that the Kishenganga and Ratle plants were \u201calso the subject of proceedings\u201d before a World Bank-appointed neutral expert, who is expected to issue a final decision in July 2027 on whether they were in line with the IWT.<\/p>\n
During the proceedings, Pakistan requested the court to address the \u201cdesign of certain components of the run-of-river hydro-electric projects that India is permitted by the IWT to construct on the Indus, Jhelum, and Chenab rivers and their tributaries (\u201cwestern rivers\u201d), before those rivers flow into Pakistan\u201d, the PCA statement said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Hague: The Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) on Monday ordered India to uphold the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) with Pakistan and suspend work on a hydro project in occupied Kashmir. According to Kashmir Media Service, water and the IWT remain a contentious issue between India and Pakistan, following New Delhi\u2019s unilateral abeyance of the accord …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":209346,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-209331","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-india"],"yoast_head":"\n