Pakistan has praised a recent decision by the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) regarding India’s design standards for upcoming run-of-river hydropower projects on the Chenab, Jhelum, and Indus rivers. Islamabad says the verdict supports its interpretation of the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT), which India put on hold after the April terror attack in Pahalgam.
According to The Times of India, the court has reportedly ruled that India must “let flow” the waters of the western rivers for Pakistan’s unrestricted use, except when hydropower generation is allowed under the treaty.
Pakistan’s Foreign Office said on Monday, “The specified exceptions for generation of hydro-electric plants must conform strictly to the requirements laid down in the treaty, rather than to what India might consider an ‘ideal’ or ‘best practices’ approach.”
New Delhi has never acknowledged the PCA’s authority in this matter, maintaining that disputes should be resolved through the neutral expert mechanism outlined in the treaty.
Sources cited by ToI said India had earlier sought changes to the IWT after long-standing disagreements over the Kishanganga and Ratle projects in Jammu and Kashmir.
India has also objected to the World Bank’s 2022 move to activate both a neutral expert and the Court of Arbitration a step taken at Pakistan’s request on the same disputes. Officials said this created “practical and legal challenges” by allowing two parallel proceedings.
While India’s official reaction to the ruling is expected on Wednesday, government sources stressed that the IWT would stay suspended until Pakistan takes credible action against cross-border terrorism.
The PCA ruling comes just days after Pakistan’s military and political leaders issued strong nuclear and water-related threats against India.
India’s Ministry of External Affairs had previously condemned such remarks as “nuclear sabre-rattling” and accused Pakistan of using them as part of its “stock-in-trade” tactics.
Speaking in Tampa, Florida, Pakistan Army Chief Gen Asim Munir warned that any reduction in water reaching Pakistan would lead to the destruction of Indian infrastructure. Issuing a nuclear warning, he said, “We are a nuclear nation. If we think we are going down, we’ll take half the world down with us.”
In Islamabad, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif directly tied any water restrictions to a violation of the IWT. He declared:
“The enemy cannot snatch even a single drop of water from Pakistan. You threatened to stop our water if you try, Pakistan will teach you a lesson you will never forget.”
Sharif described water as Pakistan’s “lifeline” and vowed to defend its treaty rights without compromise.
Signed in 1960 after nine years of World Bank–mediated talks, the IWT allocates control over western rivers (Indus, Jhelum, Chenab) to Pakistan and eastern rivers (Ravi, Beas, Sutlej) to India, while allowing limited use of each other’s waters under strict conditions.
Despite decades of hostility, the treaty has mostly survived but critics in India argue it favours Pakistan, even as Islamabad continues to back terrorism.
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