India has rejected the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague's order to comply with its obligations under the Indus Waters Treaty, asserting that the court was illegally constituted. India placed the treaty in abeyance after a terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir.
On Monday, India expressed its rejection of a court of arbitration's order setting aside New Delhi’s decision to suspend the Indus Waters Treaty with Pakistan. The Ministry of External Affairs stated that the court, which was formed by the World Bank in breach of the terms of the treaty, had no jurisdiction over India’s sovereign decisions.
The Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague, in an interim order, prohibited India from building certain structures of the Ratle hydroelectric project in Jammu and Kashmir. However, the Indian Ministry of External Affairs maintained that India’s decision to hold the treaty in abeyance remained in effect.
India had placed the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance a day after the April 22 terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam, which left 26 persons dead. The suspension was conditional upon Pakistan stopping its support for cross-border terrorism.
Since it suspended the treaty, the Indian side has stepped up work on several hydropower projects in Jammu and Kashmir that Pakistan opposed under the provisions of the 1960 pact. Among these are the Ratle and Kishenganga hydropower projects, over which Pakistan had sought the formation of a court of arbitration.
In response to this move, the foreign ministry said that the court of arbitration had no jurisdiction over India’s sovereign decisions and that its pronouncements ‘will have no effect on India’s actions in connection with the projects being undertaken by India’.
Source:
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