ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Sunday expressed “utmost satisfaction” over a supplemental award by the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA), which it said affirmed Islamabad’s position on the Indus Waters Treaty and places “substantive limits on India’s water-control capability” over the western rivers of the Indus basin.
The decision pertained to maximum pondage — a technical term for the maximum volume of water that could be stored in a reservoir — in Indus Waters Treaty proceedings, arising from design disputes concerning the Ratle and the Kishenganga hydroelectric projects, located in India-occupied Kashmir, a statement issued by the government said.
According to the statement, the supplemental award was issued on May 15. However, the verdict has not been publicly released by the PCA yet.
India’s foreign ministry, meanwhile, issued a statement rejecting the PCA’s decision. New Delhi has historically refused to accept the composition of the Court of Arbitration.
The IWT, brokered by the World Bank in 1960, allocates the three western rivers — Indus, Jhelum and Chenab — largely to Pakistan, and the three eastern rivers — Ravi, Beas and Sutlej — to India.
In April 2025, India announced a unilateral suspension of its obligations under the IWT following an attack on tourists in occupied Kashmir’s Pahalgam that killed 26 people — an incident New Delhi blamed on Islamabad without proof. This violated a supplemental award of competence, issued by the PCA in 2015, which provides a framework for international disputes, declaring India can’t unilaterally put the treaty in abeyance.
According to the official statement, the latest supplemental award by the PCA affirmed Islamabad’s “central position that the treaty places substantive limits on India’s water-control capability on the western rivers”. “Pondage for a run-of-river [plants] must be justified by real project needs, actual expected operation, site hydrology, hydraulic conditions, power-system requirements, and the information and explanation required under the treaty,” it said.
It added that building on the PCA’s Award on Issues of General Interpretation of the IWT on August 8, 2025, the supplemental award gave practical effect to the standard that installed capacity and anticipated load must be realistic, well-founded and defensible.
“Installed capacity must correspond to actual expected operation, hydrologic and hydraulic data, and treaty requirements. Anticipated load must correspond to actual expected operation and to the projected needs of the power system the plant is intended to serve,” it said.
The statement said the award also strengthened Pakistan’s review rights. “India must provide Pakistan with sufficient information and explanation to assess treaty compliance. If India fails to do so, it fails to carry its burden of establishing that the proposed maximum pondage satisfies Paragraph 8(c) of Annexure D”.
In a statement issued earlier, New Delhi rejected the award by what it termed “the illegally constituted so-called Court of Arbitration”.
“India categorically rejects the present so-called award, just as it has firmly rejected all prior pronouncements of the illegally constituted CoA,” the statement said.
It said India “never recognised the establishment of this so-called CoA. Any proceeding, award, or decision issued by it is null and void”.
The statement added that India’s decision to hold the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance remained in force.
Published in Dawn, May 18th, 2026