India rejects ‘supplemental award’ by so-called Indus Waters Court of arbitration

New Delhi, Jun 28: India has categorically rejected a so-called “supplemental award” issued on June 27 by an arbitral body claiming jurisdiction under the Indus Waters Treaty, calling it an “illegal Court of Arbitration” and asserting that the body has no legal standing. The decision relates to the Kishenganga and Ratle hydroelectric projects in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir. Indian authorities stated that the court’s constitution was itself a “serious breach” of the 1960 Treaty and that any pronouncements by it are “illegal and per se void.” India has maintained that the formation of this Court of Arbitration was in “brazen violation” of the treaty’s dispute resolution mechanisms. “India has never recognised the existence in law of this so-called Court of Arbitration,” the government said in a statement.

In the wake of the recent Pahalgam terror attack, India has placed the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance, invoking its sovereign rights under international law.

Officials emphasized that until Pakistan takes “credible and irreversible steps” to end support for cross-border terrorism, India will not consider itself bound by the treaty’s obligations. “No Court of Arbitration, much less this illegally constituted arbitral body which has no existence in the eye of law, has the jurisdiction to examine the legality of India’s actions in exercise of its rights as a sovereign,” the statement said.

Terming the latest ruling as a “charade at Pakistan’s behest,” India accused Pakistan of misusing international forums to deflect attention from its role as “the global epicentre of terrorism.” India reaffirmed that it does not recognise the court or any of its past or future pronouncements, reiterating that Pakistan’s actions reflect a “decades-long pattern of deception and manipulation.”