ISLAMABAD: The Indian government on Friday boycotted the proceedings of the Court of Arbitration in The Hague, said a senior Pakistani official, which was constituted to look into Islamabad’s concerns over the “controversial design” of two hydroelectric power projects by New Delhi on Rivers Jhelum and Chenab.
Pakistan, a lower riparian state, has long expressed its reservations over India’s construction of the 330-megawatt Kishanganga Hydroelectric Project on River Jhelum and 850-megawatt Ratle Hydroelectric Project on River Chenab in the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir.
In the first hearing at the court, India boycotted the proceedings under the Indus Waters Treaty which was signed by the two countries in September 19, 1960.
“The court is competent to proceed ex parte and is doing so,” Ahmad Irfan Aslam, Pakistan’s agent to the court, told Arab News.
Aslam, who is also the additional attorney general, is leading Pakistan’s delegation to the court where he is accompanied by Hassan Nasir Jamy, secretary Ministry of Water Resources, and Syed Muhammad Mehar Ali Shah, the country’s commissioner for Indus Waters.
Among others, Pakistan is also represented by Sir Daniel Bethlehem, KC, a barrister from the United Kingdom.
Officials in Islamabad decided to initiate legal proceeding against India on August 19, 2016, by requesting the formation of an ad hoc Court of Arbitration under Article IX of the Indus Waters Treaty. The country took the step after consistently raising its concerns in the Permanent Indus Commission since 2006 for Kishanganga and 2012 for Ratle project.
It also sought a resolution to the dispute in government level talks held in New Delhi in July 2015.
Aslam said Pakistan’s decision to initiate the proceedings was in response to India’s persistent refusal to address its concerns.
The Indus Waters Treaty provides two forums for the settlement of disputes: the Court of Arbitration which addresses legal, technical and systemic issues, and Neutral Expert who can only adjudicate on technical issues.
The Pakistani official said his country requested the establishment of the Court of Arbitration due to systemic questions requiring legal interpretation.
India responded to Pakistan’s initiation of formal dispute settlement process by its own belated request for appointment of a neutral expert.
Fearing conflicting outcomes from two parallel processes, the World Bank, which was the guarantor of the treaty, suspended both processes on December 12, 2016, and invited the two countries to negotiate and agree on one forum for dispute resolution.
Pakistan and India could not agree on a mutually acceptable forum and the World Bank, after six years, finally lifted the suspension and created the Court of Arbitration and appointed a Neutral Expert.
During this period, however, India completed the construction of the Kishanganga project.
“Pakistan believes that any risk of conflicting outcomes can be arrested through coordination and cooperation between the two fora,” Aslam said. “It is engaging with both fora. By contrast, and in characteristic bad faith, India has boycotted the Court of Arbitration.”
Based on anonymous sources, media reports emerging from New Delhi said India had asked Pakistan to change the water-sharing agreement barring third parties from intervening in such disputes.
One of the sources told Reuters the Indian administration was even ready to resolve the protracted issue within 90 days with Pakistani officials.
However, Pakistan’s foreign office said in a brief statement that the Court of Arbitration was holding its hearing, adding that “such media reports should not divert attention from the important proceedings.”
