‘Charade At Pakistan's Behest': India Rejects Court Of Arbitration's 'Ruling' On J&K Dam Projects
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MEA reiterated that India 'categorically rejects this so-called supplemental award as it has rejected all prior pronouncements of this body.'
India firmly rejected a ruling by a 'so-called" Court of Arbitration that issued a 'supplemental award" regarding the Kishenganga and Ratle hydroelectric projects in Jammu and Kashmir. The projects, situated on tributaries of the Indus river system, have been a longstanding point of contention between India and Pakistan.
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in a statement that the Court of Arbitration has no legal standing and that its very formation breaches the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT). India, the statement added, does not recognise the court or any decision emerging from it.
'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 reiterated that any proceedings before this tribunal, as well as its rulings, are 'illegal and per se void." The statement comes in the wake of India's recent decision to place the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance following the Pahalgam terrorist attack in April, which claimed 26 lives.
In light of the security situation, India said it has exercised its sovereign rights under international law to suspend its obligations under the treaty until Pakistan 'credibly and irreversibly" renounces support for cross-border terrorism. During this suspension, India asserts it is no longer bound by the treaty's terms.
'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 MEA stated.
India also criticised Pakistan's role in the arbitration proceedings, calling it a 'latest charade" and a 'desperate attempt" to deflect attention from its alleged role in supporting terrorism.
'This latest charade at Pakistan's behest is yet another desperate attempt by it to escape accountability for its role as the global epicenter of terrorism," the MEA said, adding, 'Pakistan's resort to this fabricated arbitration mechanism is consistent with its decades-long pattern of deception and manipulation of international forums."
Islamabad has long raised objections to India's hydropower developments on the western rivers of the Indus system. It first opposed the 330 MW Kishenganga project on the Jhelum River in 2006 and later, the 850 MW Ratle project on the Chenab River. Pakistan argues that the projects violate the treaty and could impact water flow into its territory.
India, however, maintains that it is well within its rights under the Indus Waters Treaty to construct run-of-the-river hydroelectric projects on the Jhelum and Chenab rivers and that adequate safeguards have been incorporated to comply with the treaty's provisions.
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