India’s water control: Pakistan says PCA award reinforces IWT limits
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Sunday welcomed a supplemental award issued by the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA), saying the decision reinforced Islamabad’s position that the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) imposes substantive limits on India’s ability to control water flows on the western rivers of the Indus river system.
The award relates to disputes over the design of the Ratle Hydroelectric Plant and the Kishenganga Hydroelectric Project in occupied Kashmir, particularly concerning “maximum pondage” — the maximum volume of water permitted to be stored in a reservoir under the treaty framework.
In a statement posted on X, the Government of Pakistan said the supplemental award had been issued on 15 May, although the PCA has not yet made the ruling public.
The Pakistani government said the latest award affirmed its “central position” that the treaty’s restrictions on India’s water-control capability were substantive and enforceable at the planning and design stage of hydroelectric projects.
“These limits are not formalities,” the statement said. “They apply at the planning and design stage and cannot be satisfied merely by a later assurance of operational restraint.”
According to the statement, the tribunal held that pondage for a run-of-river hydroelectric plant must be justified by actual project requirements, including expected operational needs, site hydrology, hydraulic conditions, power-system requirements and treaty-mandated disclosures.The government said the award built upon the PCA’s earlier ruling on issues of general interpretation of the treaty, issued on 8 August 2025, by clarifying that installed generating capacity and anticipated electricity load must be “realistic, well-founded and defensible”.
“Installed capacity must correspond to actual expected operation, hydrologic and hydraulic data, and treaty requirements,” the statement said.
“Anticipated load must correspond to actual expected operation and to the projected needs of the power system the plant is intended to serve.”
Pakistan said the ruling addressed concerns that India could otherwise seek to justify increased pondage through “imagined capacity, artificial load curves, unrealistic peaking assumptions, or bare assertions of compliance”.
The statement added that the award strengthened Pakistan’s rights to review project data submitted by India under the treaty.
“India must provide Pakistan with sufficient information and explanation to assess treaty compliance,” it said. “If India fails to do so, it fails to carry its burden of establishing that the proposed maximum pondage satisfies Paragraph 8(c) of Annexure D.”
Paragraph 8(c) of Annexure D stipulates that maximum pondage in the operating pool of a run-of-river plant must not exceed twice the pondage required for firm power generation.
Pakistan also said the tribunal had confirmed that any applicable minimum-flow obligations must be considered in calculating pondage requirements and that compliance with Paragraph 15 release provisions did not automatically satisfy such obligations.
The government further noted that the PCA had previously held that arbitral awards under the treaty are final and binding on both parties and carry legal weight in subsequent treaty-related proceedings.
Islamabad said it would place the tribunal’s interpretations before the neutral expert process in accordance with treaty procedures and confidentiality requirements.
Reaffirming its commitment to the treaty and its dispute-resolution mechanisms, Pakistan said it would continue to pursue “every lawful and diplomatic means” to ensure that Indian hydroelectric projects on the western rivers complied with treaty obligations.
“The award is a strategic consolidation of Pakistan’s treaty position,” the statement said, adding that maximum pondage must be “realistic, evidence-based, hydrologically grounded, power-system justified, treaty-compliant, and incapable of inflation through artificial assumptions”.
India, meanwhile, rejected the PCA’s ruling, describing the tribunal as illegitimate.
Pakistan initiated arbitration proceedings against India under the IWT in 2016. India has continued to boycott the proceedings, though the PCA has shared procedural developments and decisions with the Indus water commissioners of both countries in their ex-officio capacities.
Brokered by the World Bank in 1960, the Indus Waters Treaty allocates the western rivers — the Indus, Jhelum and Chenab — primarily to Pakistan, while the eastern rivers — the Ravi, Beas and Sutlej — are allocated to India.
In April 2025, India announced it was suspending its obligations under the treaty following an attack in Pahalgam in occupied Kashmir in which 26 tourists were killed. New Delhi blamed Islamabad for the incident, an allegation Pakistan denied.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2026
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