Pakistan’s lawfare stance on water for arbitration has got a shot in the arm. The Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) at The Hague stood behind the lower riparian state, and categorically pronounced that it has the due and legitimate authority to ‘adjudicate’ in any dispute between the two countries over the Indus Water Treaty (1960).
It went a step ahead to rule that Pakistan’s concerns on India holding the treaty in ‘abeyance’ and the threats of “weaponising water” are “not hypothetical”, and go on to actively undermine the treaty obligations. This is the second endorsement to come from the international fora after the World Bank that attributed Delhi’s unilateral withdrawal from the commitment as unlawful.
The legal perspective emerged as the PCA was deliberating the Pakistan-India dispute over Kishenganga and Ratle hydroelectric projects, whose final decision is due in summer this year. The court seized the opportunity to announce a supplemental award on June 27, 2025, wherein the PCA held high its discretion to adjudicate that went on to reinforce Islamabad’s stance that the IWT is fully operational and cannot be set aside by India through unilateral declarations.
The Foreign Office was quick to call on Delhi to see reason in global legal decorum and immediately restore water supply to Pakistan. Nonetheless, the Hindutva-led dispensation’s adamant attitude to reject the PCA testimony, and continue with its illegal action must instantly drive retribution.
Islamabad’s case was preeminent and all the three of its points laid down before the PCA were upheld by the jurists. They pertained to weaponisation of water politics by India; and included: interruption of water supply used for downstream irrigation through the filling of reservoirs; the opening of dam gates to release stored water in excessive volumes in a manner that causes flooding downstream; and the rapid, mass release of sediment impacting rivers, land, infrastructure and people living downstream. This nod from PCA must serve as an awakening call for India, and the least option it has is to submit to the will of International Law and uphold its stature as a responsible state.
