Jaiswal affirmed India’s decision to keep treaty in abeyance remains fully in force.
India has rejected the latest award issued by the Pakistan-backed Court of Arbitration (CoA) concerning the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT), reiterating its longstanding position that the tribunal was constituted illegally and lacks any authority.
In an official response to media queries, MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said the award on “maximum pondage supplemental to the award on issues of general interpretation of the Indus Waters Treaty” was issued on May 15 by the “illegally constituted so-called CoA.”
“India categorically rejects the present so-called award, just as it has firmly rejected all prior pronouncements of the illegally constituted CoA,” Jaiswal said.
The spokesperson emphasised that India has never recognised the establishment of the CoA, declaring that “any proceeding, award, or decision issued by it is null and void.”
Jaiswal further affirmed that India’s decision to keep the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance remains fully in force. The development comes amid ongoing tensions between India and Pakistan over the sharing and management of Indus River waters. India has consistently maintained that the parallel proceedings initiated under the treaty framework are invalid and has opposed the CoA’s jurisdiction in the matter.
The May 15 award was a supplemental ruling focused on the technical issue of “maximum pondage”, the limited temporary storage of water permitted in run-of-river hydroelectric projects that India is allowed to build on the western rivers under the 1960 IWT. This followed CoA’s earlier August 2025 award on issues of general interpretation and subsequent proceedings on how India must calculate installed capacity, anticipated load, and pondage limits for such projects.
The IWT brokered by the World Bank, divides the use of the six rivers of the Indus system between India and Pakistan. Pakistan initiated arbitration proceedings at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, seeking adjudication on the design parameters of Indian projects.
