Pakistan hails PCA's decision in IWT proceedings, says it affirms limits on India’s water-control capability

Pakistan expressed on Sunday “utmost satisfaction” over a supplemental award by the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) that it said affirmed Islamabad’s position of the Indus Waters Treaty placing “substantive limits on India’s water-control capability” on Indus River system’s western rivers.

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 Hydroelectric Plant and the Kishenganga Hydroelectric Project in occupied Kashmir, a statement issued by the Pakistan government said.

According to the statement, the supplemental award was issued on May 15. However, the decision has not been publicly shared by the PCA yet.

Pakistan had first instituted arbitral proceedings against India regarding the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) in 2016. And while India continues to boycott the proceedings, the court shares its procedural updates and decisions with both Indian and Pakistani Indus water commissioners ex-officio.

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 — an incident New Delhi blamed on Islamabad without evidence.

In June 2015, the PCA, which provides a framework for international disputes, issued a supplemental award of competence, stating that India cannot unilaterally hold the treaty in abeyance.

According to the government of Pakistan’s 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”.

“These limits are not formalities. They apply at the planning and design stage and cannot be satisfied merely by a later assurance of operational restraint.

“Pondage for a run-of-river Plant 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,” the statement said.

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