Islamabad: Pakistan has strongly welcomed a supplemental award issued by the Court of Arbitration that reaffirms the validity and operational status of the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) and asserts that India has no right to take unilateral action regarding it. The decision comes as a significant vindication of Islamabad’s long-held position in the ongoing dispute over the Kishenganga and Ratle hydroelectric projects.
In a statement released on Monday, the Foreign Office expressed satisfaction with the Court of Arbitration’s finding that its competence remains intact and that it has a continuing responsibility to advance the proceedings in a timely, efficient, and fair manner. This supplemental award was announced on Friday, June 27, 2025, specifically in response to India’s “illegal and unilateral” declaration to hold the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance.
Pakistan’s Foreign Office emphasized that the award “vindicates Pakistan’s position that the Indus Waters Treaty remains valid and operational, and that India has no right to take a unilateral action about it.”
The statement further urged India to “immediately resume the normal functioning of the Indus Waters Treaty, and fulfill its treaty obligations, wholly and faithfully.”
This ruling reinforces the sanctity of the World Bank-brokered 1960 treaty, which governs the sharing of the Indus River system’s waters between the two South Asian neighbors. India had unilaterally announced the suspension of the IWT following a militant attack in Pahalgam in April, a move that Pakistan consistently condemned as a violation of international law. The Court of Arbitration’s decision clearly indicates that the treaty does not allow for such unilateral suspension.
