India Rejects Court’s Indus Treaty Ruling, Stands Firm on Suspension

New Delhi, August 31, 2026 India has rejected the latest rulings of the Court of Arbitration on the Indus Waters Treaty, asserting that its decision to hold the agreement in abeyance remains unchanged. New Delhi also dismissed interim measures related to construction work on the Ratle hydroelectric project in Jammu and Kashmir, maintaining that the arbitral body has no authority to decide on India’s sovereign actions. “India’s decision to hold the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance remains in force,” the Ministry of External Affairs said. India had taken the step in April 2025 as part of punitive diplomatic and economic measures following the Pahalgam terror attack, which was carried out by a proxy for Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). Pakistan later approached the court in The Hague to seek a decision on the status of the water-sharing treaty. Rejecting the court’s authority, the MEA said: “This so-called Court was constituted by the World Bank in patent breach of the terms of the Treaty and India categorically rejects its so-called award, just as it has firmly rejected all prior pronouncements by this illegally constituted body.” India said it has never recognised the Court of Arbitration and has neither appeared before it nor accepted its earlier pronouncements. The government maintained that the body has “no jurisdiction whatsoever to pronounce on India’s sovereign decisions” and said its present or future rulings would have no impact on India’s hydropower projects. Since placing the treaty in abeyance, India has stepped up work on projects in Jammu and Kashmir, including the Ratle and Kishenganga hydropower projects, which Pakistan has opposed under the 1960 agreement. Meanwhile, the Permanent Court of Arbitration said its tribunal had unanimously concluded that India’s grounds could not justify suspending or terminating the treaty. “In a unanimous decision, the Court found that none of these grounds could justify suspension or termination of the Treaty. Accordingly, the Indus Waters Treaty remains fully in force, and India must observe its obligations under the Treaty, including those relating to the design and operation of its hydro-electric projects on the Western Rivers,” the court said. It also imposed a reporting measure concerning the Ratle project’s construction schedule while rejecting two other interim requests made by Pakistan. The dispute over the Kishenganga and Ratle projects has continued for years, with both a neutral expert and the Court of Arbitration appointed in 2016 after Pakistan changed its earlier approach. India participated in proceedings before the neutral expert until the treaty was suspended in 2025 but has consistently refused to take part in the arbitration process. The court also considered India’s allegations regarding Pakistan’s sponsorship of cross-border terrorism but said that even if the allegations were assumed to be true, they would not establish a material breach of the treaty. With India refusing to recognise the tribunal and the court insisting that the treaty remains in force, the dispute continues to reflect a sharp difference over the agreement’s status and the authority of the arbitration process.