India Rejects Kishenganga Arbitration Ruling as ‘Illegal and Void’

 June 28, 2025 – India has categorically rejected a "supplemental award" issued yesterday, June 27, 2025, by the Court of Arbitration concerning the Kishenganga and Ratle hydropower projects in Jammu and Kashmir. New Delhi firmly stated that it has never recognized the legitimacy or authority of this arbitral body, intensifying the long-running water dispute with Pakistan under the Indus Waters Treaty.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) released a strong statement on Friday, June 27, declaring the so-called Court of Arbitration "illegal" and "purportedly constituted under the Indus Waters Treaty 1960, albeit in brazen violation of it." India's position has consistently been that the very formation of this arbitral body constitutes a serious breach of the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) itself.

The latest ruling from the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, delivered on Thursday, June 27, concerned its competence to continue hearing the case, despite India's decision in April to hold the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance. The Court unanimously ruled that India's action "does not limit" its competence over the dispute and that its ruling is binding.

However, India's MEA stated, "India has never recognised the existence in law of this so-called Court of Arbitration, and India's position has all along been that the constitution of this so-called arbitral body is in itself a serious breach of the Indus Waters Treaty and consequently any proceedings before this forum and any award or decision taken by it are also for that reason illegal and per se void."

New Delhi reiterated its stance that following the April 22 Pahalgam terrorist attack, India, in exercise of its sovereign rights under international law, placed the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance "until Pakistan credibly and irrevocably abjures its support for cross-border terrorism."

"Until such time that the Treaty is in abeyance, India is no longer bound to perform any of its obligations under the Treaty," the MEA asserted. "No Court of Arbitration, much less this illegally constituted arbitral body which has no existence in the eye of law, has the jurisdiction to examine the legality of India's actions in exercise of its rights as a sovereign."

The Ministry further described the ruling as the "latest charade at Pakistan's behest," accusing Islamabad of "yet another desperate attempt by it to escape accountability for its role as the global epicentre of terrorism." India has consistently argued that Pakistan's resort to this arbitration mechanism is part of a "decades-long pattern of deception and manipulation of international forums."

The dispute revolves around Pakistan's objections to certain design elements of the 330-MW Kishenganga and 850-MW Ratle hydropower projects, which India is building on tributaries of the Jhelum and Chenab rivers, respectively. While the IWT, brokered by the World Bank in 1960, allocates these western rivers to Pakistan, it permits India certain uses, including run-of-river hydroelectric projects. Pakistan claims these designs violate the treaty by potentially obstructing water flow.

India has consistently maintained that the dispute should be handled by a neutral expert under a different mechanism of the treaty and has boycotted the Court of Arbitration proceedings since their inception in 2016.