Pakistan urges India to resume normal functioning of Indus Waters Treaty

Islamabad: Pakistan on Monday said it is committed to the full implementation of the Indus Water Treaty and urged India to immediately resume the normal functioning of the agreement, which New Delhi has held in abeyance since May.

A day after the Pahalgam terror attack on April 22, India took a series of punitive measures against Pakistan that included putting the Indus Waters Treaty of 1960 in "abeyance".

In a statement on Monday, the Foreign Office said that Pakistan is committed to the full implementation of the Indus Waters Treaty and also expects India to immediately resume the normal functioning of the treaty.

It welcomed the interpretation related to the Indus Water Treaty made by the Court of Arbitration on August 8.

India has never recognised the proceedings at the Permanent Court of Arbitration after Pakistan raised objections to certain design elements of the two projects under the provisions of the Indus Waters Treaty.

The Foreign Office said that the Award interprets the designed criteria for the new run-of-river hydropower projects, to be constructed by India on the Western Rivers (Chenab, Jhelum, and Indus).

“In a significant finding, the Court has declared that India shall ‘let flow’ the waters of the Western Rivers for Pakistan’s unrestricted use. In that connection, the specified exceptions for generation of hydro-electric plants must conform strictly to the requirements laid down in the Treaty, rather than to what India might consider an ‘ideal’ or ‘best practices’ approach,” the FO quoted the Award as saying.

It said the Award carries special significance in the wake of India’s recent announcement to hold the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance, and its earlier decision to boycott the proceedings of the Court of Arbitration.