Pakistan pays full arbitration bill as India boycotts Indus Waters Treaty proceedings
Representational image of the Indus river system. Image Credit: Wikimedia
New Delhi: Pakistan has been paying not only its own expenses but also India’s share of costs at the permanent court of arbitration (PCA) in The Hague, to keep the ongoing Indus Waters Treaty dispute from stalling. Under the treaty, both countries are meant to share arbitration costs equally.
The dispute centres on India’s Kishanganga and Ratle hydroelectric projects on the western rivers governed by the treaty, which Pakistan says violate the agreement. India maintains the projects comply with the treaty, and has argued that such technical disputes should be examined by a neutral expert rather than an arbitration court, saying it is against the treaty’s framework to run both processes at once.
India has boycotted the PCA proceedings since 2023, arguing the tribunal lacks jurisdiction. After the Pahalgam attack, India placed the treaty in abeyance and stopped participating in all related proceedings, saying it would not resume cooperation until Pakistan takes credible and irreversible action against cross-border terrorism. India has called the PCA “illegally constituted” and its rulings “null and void.”.
Since arbitration can continue even if one party stays away, Pakistan has pressed ahead with the case. The PCA has held at least eight hearings so far, all boycotted by India, and previously ruled it has jurisdiction to hear the dispute despite India’s objections.
The tribunal has said the final allocation of costs will be decided in its final award. Since India does not recognise the PCA’s authority, it remains unclear whether it would pay any amount the tribunal eventually orders.
The added costs come as Pakistan navigates a fragile economic recovery, operating under a $7 billion IMF Extended Fund Facility, its 25th programme with the lender since 1950.
