The Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) accepted Pakistan’s position on Thursday and rejected India’s objections to the assumption of jurisdiction by the international forum in the matter concerning the change of designs in Kishanganga and Ratle Hydro Electric plants. A legal battle between India and Pakistan over water-sharing in The Hague passed through the initial stage after the PCA ruled that it was a competent authority to determine the Kishanganga dispute between the two South Asian nations.
The court is not set to begin hearing Pakistan’s claim on merit to the effect that above mentioned two projects’ designs are in breach of Indus Water Treaty of 1961. Pakistan was represented by a team of international experts assisted by a team of the Attorney General for Pakistan including Advocate Zohair Waheed and Advocate Ms Leena Nishter. Barrister Ahmed Irfan Aslam acted as Pakistan’s agent in the PCA. The dispute pertains to concerns raised by Pakistan over India’s construction of the 330MW Kishanganga hydroelectric project on the Jhelum River and plans to construct the 850MW Ratle Hydroelectric Project on River Chenab in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK).
Pakistan initiated legal proceedings on August 19, 2016, by requesting the establishment of the ad hoc Court of Arbitration pursuant to Article IX of the IWT. Islamabad took this step after strenuously raising its concerns in the Permanent Indus Commission starting in 2006 for the Kishanganga project and in 2012 for the Ratle project and then seeking resolution at government-level talks held in New Delhi in July 2015.
Pakistan’s decision to initiate proceedings was in response to India’s persistent refusal to address Islamabad’s concerns. “The treaty provides for two forums for settlement of the disputes – the Court of Arbitration that addresses legal, technical, and systemic issues and the Neutral Expert that addresses only technical issues. Pakistan requested the establishment of the Court of Arbitration because of systemic questions requiring legal interpretation.” India responded to Pakistan’s initiation of a formal dispute settlement process by its own belated request for the appointment of a neutral expert. Submission of a belated request for the resolution of disputes raised by Pakistan was a demonstration of India’s characteristic bad faith, the statement added. Fearing conflicting outcomes from two parallel processes, on December 12, 2016, the World Bank suspended the processes for the establishment of the Court of Arbitration and appointment of the neutral expert and invited both countries to negotiate and agree on one forum.
Pakistan and India could not agree on a mutually acceptable forum and the World Bank, after six years, during which India completed the construction of the Kishanganga project, finally lifted the suspension and created the Court of Arbitration and appointed a neutral expert.
