Pakistan rejects India's claims on Indus Waters Treaty

ISLAMABAD (APP) - Pakistan on Thursday reiterated its commitment to dialogue and diplomacy for resolving regional disputes, while rejecting India's attempts to cast doubt on the recent Court of Arbitration award on the Indus Waters Treaty. Addressing media at the weekly news briefing here, Foreign Office Spokesperson, Ambassador Sajjad Haider Khan said Pakistan remained committed to a rules-based international system and maintained that dialogue and diplomacy were the only viable means of ensuring peace and stability in the region. On the Indus Waters Treaty, he strongly rejected India's characterization of the Court of Arbitration as 'illegally constituted,' saying the Court had unanimously and firmly affirmed that the treaty remained in full force and binding on both parties. He said the Court had also affirmed that India was required to observe its treaty obligations concerning the design and operation of hydroelectric projects on the western rivers. The spokesperson said the Court had imposed measures prohibiting India from concreting specified portions of the Ratle Hydroelectric Power Project until 90 days after the Neutral Expert's final decision, expected around July 2027, besides imposing a reporting measure concerning the project. He pointed out that the Court of Arbitration had been constituted under the Indus Waters Treaty at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague and had previously determined its competence and constitution in accordance with the treaty. 'India cannot escape from the binding awards of the Court of Arbitration through unilateral pronouncements,' he said. On Pakistan-Afghanistan relations, the spokesperson said Pakistan remained keen to develop friendly and cooperative relations with Afghanistan, but stressed that such relations could only be built on trust, mutual understanding and respect for each other's sovereignty. He said Pakistan's concerns over terrorism emanating from Afghanistan had become a 'red line', particularly as terrorist activity had extended beyond border areas into deeper parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan. Pakistan, he said, remained ready for dialogue, but expected a complete end to the infiltration and activities of terrorist organizations which Islamabad says are supported and facilitated from Afghan territory. On India-Pakistan engagement in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), he described the participation of India's National Coordinator in the recent SCO meeting in Islamabad as a welcome development.