Hague court orders India to uphold Indus Waters Treaty, suspend work on its hydro project

The Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) has ordered India to uphold the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) with Pakistan and suspend work on a hydro project in occupied Kashmir. The Hague-based court issued the award on the status of the IWT and the order on “interim measures concerning the Ratle hydro-electric plant”. Water and the IWT remain a contentious issue between India and Pakistan, following New Delhi’s unilateral abeyance of the accord in April last year — a move that was followed by a brief military conflict between the two sides in May 2025. India held the IWT in abeyance after it, without evidence, linked the deadly attack in occupied Kashmir’s Pahalgam to Pakistan. Islamabad strongly denied the allegations. Following India’s move, Pakistan termed any attempt to suspend its water share an “act of war”, noting the IWT had no provision for unilateral suspension. It later argued that Delhi’s action was a violation of the 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties. The PCA backed Pakistan’s narrative, declaring that the IWT between the two countries remained fully in force, as India had no justification for ending or suspending the agreement. The court said a neutral expert, appointed by the World Bank, would judge by July 2027 whether the construction of hydroelectric plants in the Himalayan region was in line with the treaty. More to follow