ISLAMABAD: Foreign Office on Friday said that media reports pertaining to India’s bid to amend Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) should not divert attention from the important proceedings of the Court of Arbitration on Pakistan’s objections to Kishanganga and Ratle Hydroelectric projects.

“As we speak, a Court of Arbitration is holding its first hearing in The Hague on Pakistan’s objections to Kishanganga and Ratle Hydroelectric projects,” Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said while commenting on media reports that India has reportedly conveyed to Pakistan about its intention of modification of the 1960 treaty between the two neighbouring countries.

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The spokesperson said that the Court of Arbitration has been set up under the relevant provisions of the IWT. “Such media reports should not divert attention from the important proceedings of the Court of Arbitration,” she emphasized.

Indian media reported that on January 25, the government of India through the Commissioners for Indus Waters of the two sides conveyed its intention to Pakistan pertaining to making amendment to the treaty.

The notice was issued in line with Article XII (3) of the treaty, which states: “The provisions of this Treaty may from time to time be modified by a duly ratified treaty concluded for that purpose between the two governments.”

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023