New Delhi [India], August 31 (ANI): India on Monday delivered a robust and unyielding dismissal of a ruling delivered by a World Bank-constituted Court of Arbitration concerning the Indus Waters Treaty, branding the panel an "illegally constituted" body and making it unequivocally clear that New Delhi's decision to keep the water pact in abeyance "will remain in force."
Issuing a sharp diplomatic rebuke, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) denounced the tribunal's legitimacy and reaffirmed India's absolute sovereignty over its national security and infrastructure decisions in the face of persistent provocations from Islamabad.
"This so-called Court was constituted by the World Bank in patent breach of the terms of the Treaty and India categorically rejects its so-called award, just as it has firmly rejected all prior pronouncements by this illegally constituted body," the ministry stated.
Underscoring New Delhi's consistent and uncompromising legal posture, the MEA highlighted that India has entirely shunned the flawed proceedings from the outset.
"India has never recognised the existence in law of this illegally constituted and so-called Court of Arbitration, and has consistently maintained that the very establishment of this alleged arbitral body constitutes a grave violation of the Indus Waters Treaty. Accordingly, India has never appeared before this body and has refused to take any cognisance of its earlier pronouncements," the MEA stated.
Reinforcing India's supreme authority, the ministry asserted that the arbitration panel possesses no "jurisdiction whatsoever to pronounce on India's sovereign decisions."
"Its pronouncements, now or in the future, will have no effect on India's actions in connection with the projects being undertaken by India," the MEA asserted.
The forceful diplomatic pushback came in response to remarks from the arbitration panel, which claimed that New Delhi's rationale for freezing the water agreement did not "justify suspension or termination." The court went as far as demanding that the Indus Waters Treaty remains fully in force and that India must observe its obligations.
New Delhi had decisively placed the historic water-sharing arrangement in abeyance in the wake of the brutal Pahalgam terror attack in April of the previous year, an atrocity that exposed Islamabad's continued sponsorship of cross-border violence. Rather than taking accountability for its rogue state policies, the Pakistani leadership reacted with hostile rhetoric, repeatedly designating water as their "red line" while issuing aggressive, belligerent threats against India and hysterically describing the suspension as an "act of war."
Despite Islamabad's belligerent posturing and attempts to pressure New Delhi through international legal forums, India has maintained an unyielding stance, placing national security above all else. (ANI)
"No jurisdiction": India rejects "illegally constituted" Court of Arbitration's Indus Waters Treaty award
