India 'Not Participating In' Indus Water Treaty Arbitration Initiated By Pakistan, MEA Says

MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said Pakistan’s move to take the matter concerning two controversial hydroelectric projects to court is 'material breach' of the treaty.

The treaty defines the water-sharing arrangement for six rivers of the Indus basin ( Image Source :Getty Images )

New Delhi: India Thursday said it will not be party to the legal proceedings initiated by Pakistan on the dispute concerning two hydroelectric power plants under the Indus Water Treaty (IWT) despite the World Bank’s green signal to it.

The legal proceedings began last week at the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague after Pakistan took the matter there. Islamabad did this after the World Bank approved its request to appoint a Chairman of the Court of Arbitration in October 2022.

However, India has said it will settle the dispute bilaterally and would not want the World Bank to get involved in the dispute. This is why it had issued a notice to Pakistan on January 25, asking it sit for intergovernmental talks.

READ | India Issues Ultimatum To Pakistan On Indus Water Treaty As Islamabad Seeks Legal Battle Over 2 Hydel Plants

“The notice was issued with the intent to provide an opportunity to Pakistan to enter into government-to-government negotiations to rectify ongoing material breach of the treaty. We have called upon Pakistan to notify a suitable date for the commencement of inter-state bilateral negotiations within 90 days. I am not received a response from Pakistan as yet,” Arindam Bagchi, Spokesperson, Ministry of External Affairs, said at a media briefing Thursday.

According to Bagchi, the notification issued by India's Indus Commissioner P K Saxena was to his Pakistani counterpart and not to the World Bank. 

“Court of Arbitration is a legal process, I will not speculate our position or the exact modality of our approach. We are not involved or participating in the process but further I would not like to prejudge at this stage,” said Bagchi.

Stating that the legal process is “pretty complicated”, Bagchi stressed: “The World Bank itself, five-six years ago, acknowledged the problem of having two parallel processes. Our interpretation and assessment is that this is not in consonance with the provisions of the treaty and hence we have been talking about a graded approach.”

He added: “I don’t think our position has changed at all on this. I don’t know whether the World Bank has changed its position…I don’t think they are in a position to interpret the treaty for us. It’s a treaty between our two countries and our assessment and interpretation of the treaty that there is a graded approach.”

Dispute Over Two Hydel Projects  

India and Pakistan have been engaged in the dispute over the two projects — Kishenganga hydroelectric power plant (330 megawatts) and Ratle hydroelectric power plant (330 megawatts) — for decades now as both sides disagree over the technical design and believe it violates the basic tenets of the treaty.

In October 2022, the World Bank sought to keep the demands made by both sides in appointing a neutral expert as well as a chairman of the Court of Arbitration. While it was New Delhi that wanted a neutral expert to look into the concerns of both sides over the two projects, Islamabad wanted to fight out legally at the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague.

While Michel Lino was appointed as the ‘Neutral Expert’ by the World Bank, as demanded by India, Professor Sean Murphy was appointed as Chairman of the Court of Arbitration, last year, as was asked by Pakistan.