Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said the unanimous award of the Court of Arbitration rejected India’s attempt to place the 1960 treaty “in abeyance” and reaffirmed that the agreement remained binding on both countries. He said Pakistan remained committed to safeguarding its rights under the treaty.
Pakistan’s government said separately that it was considering the details of the order and how they could help identify “a pathway back to engagement” under the treaty’s binding legal framework.
India’s Ministry of External Affairs rejected the ruling, maintaining that the Court of Arbitration had been “illegally constituted” and had no jurisdiction to pronounce on what New Delhi described as sovereign decisions. The ministry said India’s decision to hold the treaty in abeyance remained in force and that the tribunal’s pronouncements would have no effect on projects being undertaken by India.
The competing statements followed two decisions issued on Monday by the Court of Arbitration in proceedings brought by Pakistan under the treaty. The tribunal delivered an award addressing the status of the Indus Waters Treaty and a separate order imposing interim measures relating to the Ratle Hydroelectric Plant on the Chenab river.
The tribunal unanimously concluded that the treaty remained in force and that India could not suspend or terminate it unilaterally on the grounds it had publicly advanced. It said the pact itself did not permit either party to place it in abeyance and found no basis under applicable international law for India’s position.
The court also directed India to observe specified temporary restrictions on construction at Ratle while a Neutral Expert, appointed through the World Bank-backed treaty mechanism, considers separate technical questions about the project’s design. The restrictions concern work on parts of the dam wall and intake structure and are intended to preserve the subject matter of the dispute pending that process.
A decision from the Neutral Expert on the technical issues is expected by July 2027. The arbitration court said its interim order did not determine those design questions, which remain before the Neutral Expert.
India has not participated in the arbitration proceedings and has repeatedly challenged the tribunal’s competence. New Delhi has argued that the constitution of the Court of Arbitration was incompatible with the treaty because a parallel Neutral Expert process had also been initiated over disputes involving hydroelectric projects.
The World Bank, which helped broker the Indus Waters Treaty, appointed both a Neutral Expert and a chairman of the Court of Arbitration in 2022 after separate requests from India and Pakistan. The two mechanisms have since proceeded on different tracks.
India placed the treaty in abeyance in April 2025 after an attack on tourists at Pahalgam in Kashmir killed 26 people. India accused Pakistan of supporting cross-border terrorism and said normal treaty cooperation could not continue under those circumstances. Pakistan denied involvement in the attack and rejected the suspension as unlawful.
The treaty, signed in 1960, governs allocation and use of the Indus river system. Broadly, it gives India control over the eastern rivers — Ravi, Beas and Sutlej — while Pakistan has rights over the western rivers — Indus, Jhelum and Chenab — subject to specified uses permitted to India, including certain hydroelectric projects.
The latest arbitration award focused on whether India’s abeyance decision could alter or suspend the treaty’s legal operation. The tribunal said the agreement contained no provision allowing unilateral suspension and held that continuing treaty obligations were unaffected by India’s April 2025 announcement.
Dar said the ruling vindicated Pakistan’s position that a binding international treaty could not be set aside by one party. He called on India to comply with the treaty and decisions issued through its dispute-settlement mechanisms.
