AGL 37.72 Decreased By ▼ -0.22 (-0.58%)
AIRLINK 168.65 Increased By ▲ 13.43 (8.65%)
BOP 9.09 Increased By ▲ 0.02 (0.22%)
CNERGY 6.85 Increased By ▲ 0.13 (1.93%)
DCL 10.05 Increased By ▲ 0.52 (5.46%)
DFML 40.64 Increased By ▲ 0.33 (0.82%)
DGKC 93.24 Increased By ▲ 0.29 (0.31%)
FCCL 37.92 Decreased By ▼ -0.46 (-1.2%)
FFBL 78.72 Increased By ▲ 0.14 (0.18%)
FFL 13.46 Decreased By ▼ -0.14 (-1.03%)
HUBC 114.10 Increased By ▲ 3.91 (3.55%)
HUMNL 14.95 Increased By ▲ 0.06 (0.4%)
KEL 5.75 Increased By ▲ 0.02 (0.35%)
KOSM 8.23 Decreased By ▼ -0.24 (-2.83%)
MLCF 45.49 Decreased By ▼ -0.17 (-0.37%)
NBP 74.92 Decreased By ▼ -1.25 (-1.64%)
OGDC 192.93 Increased By ▲ 1.06 (0.55%)
PAEL 32.24 Increased By ▲ 1.76 (5.77%)
PIBTL 8.57 Increased By ▲ 0.41 (5.02%)
PPL 167.38 Increased By ▲ 0.82 (0.49%)
PRL 31.01 Increased By ▲ 1.57 (5.33%)
PTC 22.08 Increased By ▲ 2.01 (10.01%)
SEARL 100.83 Increased By ▲ 4.21 (4.36%)
TELE 8.45 Increased By ▲ 0.18 (2.18%)
TOMCL 34.84 Increased By ▲ 0.58 (1.69%)
TPLP 11.24 Increased By ▲ 1.02 (9.98%)
TREET 18.63 Increased By ▲ 0.97 (5.49%)
TRG 60.74 Decreased By ▼ -0.51 (-0.83%)
UNITY 31.98 Increased By ▲ 0.01 (0.03%)
WTL 1.61 Increased By ▲ 0.14 (9.52%)
BR100 11,289 Increased By 73.1 (0.65%)
BR30 34,140 Increased By 489.6 (1.45%)
KSE100 105,104 Increased By 545.3 (0.52%)
KSE30 32,554 Increased By 188.3 (0.58%)

EDITORIAL: That the permanent court of arbitration (PCA) in the Hague – a non-UN inter-governmental institution for international dispute resolution – has rejected India’s objections to its jurisdiction in a dispute over the Kishanganga and Ratle Hydroelectric projects is a major win for Pakistan.

The quarrel stems from concerns raised by Pakistan over India’s construction of the 330-megawatt Kishanganga hydroelectric project on the River Jhelum and its plan to construct the 850MW Ratle Hydroelectric project on the Chenab in Illegally Indian occupied Jammu and Kashmir, of course. Islamabad initiated legal proceedings as far back as August 2016, requesting the establishment of an ad hoc court of arbitration in keeping with the articles of the Indus Water Treaty (IWT).

A proper chronology of events is necessary to understand just how and why this issue took so long to reach the PCA, and longer still to get a verdict about its validity. Let’s not forget that this step was taken only after it raised concerns about both projects before the Permanent Indus Commission – in 2006 for the Kishanganga project and in 2012 for the Ratle project.

Islamabad then sought to resolve these issues through government-level talks in Delhi in 2015, again to no avail, and was forced to initiate legal proceedings only after exhausting all other options and India’s continued refusal to address its concerns even as increasing water scarcity emerged as one of the principal threats facing the country in this time.

But India, typically, tried to sabotage Pakistan’s legal outreach by initiating its own request for a neutral expert, challenging the court of arbitration at the same time by insisting that parallel proceedings were not allowed by the IWT; something Pakistan flagged as yet another demonstration of Delhi’s “characteristic bad faith”.

Then, fearing conflicting outcomes from the two processes, the World Bank suspended both in 2016 and invited the two countries to try the tested and failed path of negotiations once again.

It took the Bank a good six years to understand that India was not going to move to a negotiated settlement in keeping with the letter and spirit of the IWT, and lifted the suspension only after India completed the construction of the Kishanganga project; even though Islamabad insisted all this time that any possible conflicting outcomes could be settled through “coordination and cooperation between the two fora” and chose to engage with both even as Delhi boycotted the court of arbitration.

That turned out to be of little use, though, since the court had the mandate to proceed ex parte, which it did. And while it hasn’t yet said anything about how and when this case will proceed, it has made it clear that it will address the interpretation and application of the IWT, especially the provisions on hydroelectric projects, as well as the legal effects of past decisions of dispute resolution bodies under the treaty itself.

This in itself ought to jolt India out of its false belief that it can use, rather abuse, its natural advantage as the upper riparian to bully Pakistan out of its right to water from the Indus river and its tributaries by ignoring and/or twisting the rules of IWT to its advantage.

It tried desperately to prevent PCA from arbitrating on this subject, but now, in the face of this unanimous decision, it will need more than its usual dismissal of everything it doesn’t agree with, especially when it comes to Pakistan, to proceed with business as usual.

According to the UN, both countries face acute water crises. And Delhi, which has assumed an increasingly antagonistic posture since BJP (Bhartiya Janata Party) came to power once again almost a decade ago, has made it amply clear that it will not shy away from using water as a weapon in its campaign against Pakistan.

It’s a shame that Delhi’s attitude rules out any sort of meaningful progress between South Asia’s two most important countries, holding back the whole continent’s economic development.

Expectedly, India has refused to accept the court’s ruling that it was competent to look into Pakistan’s case about the Kishanganga and Ratle hydrologic projects under the IWT.

Be that as it may, Pakistan, for its part, can and should do no more than stick to the legal process and let the law take its own course.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023

Comments

Comments are closed.

Rebirth Jul 09, 2023 07:20am
Allowing itself the right to hear a case doesn’t mean they’ll rule in our favor when the proceedings are over.
thumb_up Recommended (0)
KU Jul 09, 2023 10:52am
A time will come when no international organization will be allowed to decide the fate of survival for countries facing water shortage. It is extremely painful to realize that most of our rivers are dying because of changes in climate and rain/snow patterns, but we are not taking steps to conserve water for agriculture or human use. Preparing for calamities has never been our finest point and we always blame others for our own criminal acts. Back in the 1990s, the World Bank and our own experts had warned about the dangers of water scarcity and the need to build Kalabagh dam, because not only would the dam generate cheap electricity for the country but it could store enough water to irrigate agriculture. Someone should be answerable to this criminal inaction, alternatively, we know a bleak future awaits us.
thumb_up Recommended (0)
IMTIAZ CASSUM AGBOATWALA Jul 09, 2023 02:20pm
Pakistan is rejoicing as if it was won the case against India. The best course for Pakistan is to talk to India to be not unreasonable and let the river waters flow.
thumb_up Recommended (0)
KhanRA Jul 09, 2023 08:39pm
“ It’s a shame that Delhi’s attitude rules out any sort of meaningful progress ” They almost resolved Kashmir in 2008 with us, and got Mumbai attacks in return. They announced resumption of dialogue in 2015, and got Pathankot. I don’t think we can keep blaming India for not risking the lives of their citizens just to engage us.
thumb_up Recommended (0)
HashBrown® Jul 10, 2023 01:00am
@KhanRA, "They almost resolved Kashmir in 2008 with us, and got Mumbai attacks in return. They announced resumption of dialogue in 2015, and got Pathankot." Some very creative chronology you've come up with there. You probably didn't learn this during your "how to fake being an online Pakistani" module, but the Kashmir crisis didn't begin in 2008. It didn't even begin in 1990. It began in 1948, when your army illegally invaded the province. So when you cherry-pick cross-border incidents in an attempt to water down the bestial, bigoted hypocrisy of your country - and the unspeakable brutality they've inflicted in IOK for over 70 years - you miss the point completely. Hindustan will have countless more indigenous attacks on its own people, because that's the price you pay for being a racist state. This decision by the PCA shows that you guys can no longer hide behind that nonsense as a means of perverting the course of justice. Deal with it.
thumb_up Recommended (0)
HashBrown® Jul 10, 2023 01:00am
@Rebirth, "Allowing itself the right to hear a case doesn’t mean they’ll rule in our favor when the proceedings are over." If that's what you thought the article was stating, perhaps you should read it again.
thumb_up Recommended (0)
HashBrown® Jul 10, 2023 01:05am
@IMTIAZ CASSUM AGBOATWALA, "Pakistan is rejoicing as if it was won the case against India. The best course for Pakistan is to talk to India to be not unreasonable and let the river waters flow." Really? Where's the rejoicing? As a Pakistani, the only thing about this article that makes me rejoice is seeing how much of a nosebleed it gives you guys. Try reading the article again; Pakistan has made countless attempts to open dialogue with Hindustan over the IWT, but with no success. Try to remember also that in 2019 we tried to have dialogue with you after the Pulwama attack; you ignored us and tried the military option, and as a result you were humiliated while the whole world watched. Maybe you guys should keep that in mind, because you're on course to embarrass yourselves all over again here.
thumb_up Recommended (0)
zaya zaya Jul 10, 2023 07:11am
So its NOT a win yet! what a Clickbait!
thumb_up Recommended (0)