Pakistan urges India to engage constructively within Indus Waters Treaty framework

Pakistan on Wednesday, September 2, urged India to engage with it constructively within the framework of the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT), which was "solemnly accepted" by both countries.

Foreign Office spokesperson Tahir Andrabi made the remarks days after India rejected an order of the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) that set aside New Delhi's decision to suspend the treaty with Pakistan.

Andrabi said the court had reaffirmed that the IWT remained fully in force and binding, and that Pakistan would take all possible measures to ensure that the decision was implemented.

"Pakistan is committed to implementing the treaty in letter and spirit in accordance with its language and provisions," he said.

He added that Pakistan would continue to urge India to adopt a similar approach and uphold the treaty "in letter and spirit" and in accordance with its full legal and documented provisions.

India had placed the IWT in abeyance as part of a series of punitive diplomatic and economic measures announced after the Pahalgam terror attack in April last year, in which 26 civilians were killed.

Pakistan subsequently approached the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague in March this year, seeking a determination on the status of the treaty and effectively challenging India's decision.

India, however, has rejected the jurisdiction of the arbitration body.

New Delhi has maintained that it does not recognise the "existence in law of this illegally-constituted and so-called Court of Arbitration" and has argued that the establishment of the arbitral body itself constitutes a "grave violation of the Indus Waters Treaty".

Against this backdrop, Andrabi urged India to reciprocate Pakistan's position and engage within the treaty's framework.

"Pakistan will continue to urge India to reciprocate with the same approach whereby the treaty is upheld in letter and spirit and in its full legal documented provisions," he said.