ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has welcomed the Supplemental Award announced by the Court of Arbitration in the Indus Waters Treaty case, urging India to immediately resume the normal functioning of the treaty.
In a Supplemental Award announced on 27 June 2025, the Court of Arbitration hearing the Pakistan-India dispute over Kishenganga and Ratle hydroelectric projects has found that its competence remains intact, and that it has a continuing responsibility to advance these proceedings in a timely, efficient, and fair manner, said a Foreign Office statement on Monday.
It added that the Court of Arbitration decided to announce this Supplemental Award in the wake of India’s illegal and unilateral announcement to hold the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance. “Pakistan welcomes this Supplemental Award,” it said.
The statement noted that the Award vindicates Pakistan’s position that the Indus Waters Treaty remains valid and operational, and that India has no right to take unilateral action about it.
“We urge India to immediately resume the normal functioning of the Indus Waters Treaty, and fulfil its treaty obligations, wholly and faithfully,” it said.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif earlier welcomed the supplementary award, saying the court’s decision reinforced Pakistan’s stance that India cannot unilaterally suspend the Indus Waters Treaty.
“We are working upon water resources as the water is the lifeline for the people of the country, PM Office Media Wing, in a press release, quoted the prime minister as saying.
India in April held the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance after the attack in occupied Kashmir’s Pahalgam that killed 26. Pakistan termed any attempt to suspend its water share an ‘act of war.’
The Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in The Hague on Friday rejected India’s attempt to unilaterally suspend the agreement.
In its unanimous and binding decision, the court declared that India had no legal justification to unilaterally suspend the treaty or disrupt the ongoing arbitration proceedings.
The court noted that unilateral actions taken by one party to the treaty — such as India’s announcement to “immediately suspend” the agreement on April 23, 2025, in the wake of the Pahalgam incident — cannot halt the work of the arbitration court or the appointment of a Neutral Expert.
It emphasised that there is no provision in the treaty allowing for its suspension by one party, and that dispute resolution mechanisms would remain in force regardless of unilateral declarations.
