India rejects ‘illegal' Indus arbitration, suspends treaty over terror links
NEW DELHI: India on Friday firmly rejected a recent 'supplemental award' issued by what it termed an 'illegal' Court of Arbitration allegedly constituted under the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty (IWT), declaring the panel's formation a violation of the treaty and its rulings 'void and without legal standing'.
In a strongly worded five-point statement, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) stated that the so-called Court of Arbitration reportedly acting on Pakistan's complaints concerning India's Kishenganga and Ratle hydroelectric projects in Jammu and Kashmir lacked both jurisdiction and legitimacy.
'Today, the illegal Court of Arbitration, purportedly constituted under the Indus Waters Treaty 1960, albeit in brazen violation of it, has issued what it characterises as a 'supplemental award' on its competence concerning the Kishenganga and Ratle hydroelectric projects in the Indian Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir,' the MEA said.
India asserted it has never recognised the tribunal and considers any of its actions 'null and void'. 'India has never recognised the existence in law of this so-called Court of Arbitration... any proceedings before this forum and any award or decision taken by it are also for that reason illegal and per se void,' the statement read.
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