India Slams Arbitration Court Over Indus Waters Dispute, Labels It ‘Illegal’ and a ‘Charade’ Backed by Pakistan.

 India Slams Arbitration Court Over Indus Waters Dispute, Labels It ‘Illegal’ and a ‘Charade’ Backed by Pakistan.

New Delhi – India on Friday firmly rejected the authority of the Court of Arbitration set up under the Indus Waters Treaty, dismissing its latest ruling as illegitimate and politically motivated. The sharp response followed the tribunal’s issuance of a “supplemental award” asserting its jurisdiction to hear disputes related to the Kishenganga and Ratle hydroelectric projects in Jammu & Kashmir.

In a strongly worded statement, the Indian government described the court’s proceedings as a “charade” carried out at Pakistan’s behest and reiterated its longstanding position that the arbitration panel, constituted by the World Bank in October 2022, lacks legal validity.

The dispute revolves around Pakistan’s objections to the construction of the Kishenganga and Ratle hydropower plants, both located in the Indian-administered region of Jammu & Kashmir. Islamabad has claimed the projects violate provisions of the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty—an agreement brokered by the World Bank that governs water sharing between the two countries over six rivers of the Indus Basin.

India, however, maintains that it has complied fully with the treaty’s guidelines and that the projects are entirely lawful. It also argues that the formation of the Court of Arbitration is in violation of the dispute resolution mechanisms already outlined in the treaty.

“The so-called Court of Arbitration was set up illegitimately, and its actions are not binding on India,” said an Indian official familiar with the matter. “The supplemental award changes nothing. This process is a political maneuver dressed up as legal procedure, and it undermines the spirit of the treaty.”

The arbitration court, seated in The Hague, ruled on Thursday that India’s refusal to participate in the proceedings or its assertion that the treaty should be held in abeyance did not negate the court’s authority to move forward.

India, for its part, continues to support a separate neutral expert mechanism also initiated under the treaty. New Delhi believes that the neutral expert process, which it backs, is the only legitimate avenue to resolve technical disputes under the agreement.

Diplomatic tensions between India and Pakistan over the use of Indus waters have flared repeatedly over the years, but this episode marks a renewed confrontation over the role of international institutions in mediating the issue. The Indian government has often expressed concern that third-party interventions can be misused to delay or block its infrastructural development, especially in sensitive border areas.

While both countries remain signatories to the Indus Waters Treaty—which has endured multiple wars and decades of hostilities—the current disagreement over arbitration could further strain the fragile water-sharing accord.