Kuwait city: Pakistan's Federal Minister of Water Resources Mohammad Moeen Wattoo welcomed a ruling by The Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) on the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) in favor of Pakistan, stating that neither India nor Pakistan can terminate this agreement.
According to Kuwait News Agency, the Indian Ministry of External Affairs dismissed the ruling as "devoid of legal standing." Responding to India's claim, Wattoo asserted that India is attempting to evade the agreement and emphasized that under no article of the treaty can either country unilaterally terminate it. He called India's claim "baseless and wrong" and reiterated Pakistan's rejection of it.
Wattoo further pointed out that the court had affirmed its authority to decide on the matter, rejecting India's earlier claims. He also mentioned that an Indian letter seeking treaty modification earlier in the year lacked legal basis, stressing that unilateral decisions regarding the IWT are not permissible.
The treaty, signed in 1960, allocated three westward-flowing rivers to Pakistan and three eastward-flowing ones to India. Pakistan had approached the PCA concerning the design of Indian hydropower projects on rivers awarded to Pakistan under the treaty. The court ruled on Monday that it had jurisdiction over the dispute and stated that the treaty does not allow India to generate hydro-electric power on the Western Rivers based on ideal engineering practices.
Last Monday, Pakistan's Foreign Office expressed approval of the ruling, noting that it interprets design criteria for India's new run-of-river hydropower projects on the Western Rivers-Chenab, Jhelum, and Indus. The office reaffirmed Pakistan's commitment to the full implementation of the Indus Waters Treaty and urged India to resume normal treaty functions and implement the court's award.