India must limit work on a hydroelectric plant in the Indian Illegally Occupied Kashmir (IIOJK) and uphold a water-sharing treaty with Pakistan, which it suspended over tensions with its neighbouring country, the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) said on Monday.<\/p>\n
For over six decades, India and Pakistan have amicably managed the Indus River system through the IWT transboundary water-sharing agreement signed on September 19, 1960. Last year in April,\u00a0India suspended the treaty<\/a>\u00a0in the wake of the Pahalgam attack. However, Islamabad has multiple times warned India of consequences for regional peace and security if it sought to deprive Pakistan of waters allocated to it under the Indus Water Treaty (IWT).<\/p>\n The Hague-based court said the IWT between the two countries remained fully in force, as India had no justification for ending or suspending the agreement.<\/p>\n “India must observe its obligations under the Treaty, including those \u200crelating \u2060to the design and operation of its hydro-electric projects on the Western Rivers,” the intergovernmental court said.<\/p>\n The court said a neutral \u200bexpert, appointed \u2060by the World Bank, would judge by July 2027 whether the construction of hydroelectric plants in the Himalayan region was in line with the treaty.<\/p>\n Agreeing with a demand by Pakistan, the \u2060court \u200bsaid India was not allowed to build the dam \u200bwall and power intake structure at the Ratle Hydro-Electric Plant above certain levels until 90 days after the neutral \u200bexpert’s decision.<\/p>\n