India rejects 'Court of Arbitration' pondage award, says decision in force to keep Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance

New Delhi [India], April 17 : India on Saturday rejected the "so-called award by the illegally constituted Court of Arbitration (CoA)" on May 15 and said its decision to hold the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance remains in force.

"The illegally constituted so-called Court of Arbitration (CoA) has, on 15 May 2026, issued what it termed an award concerning maximum pondage supplemental to the award on issues of general interpretation of the Indus Waters Treaty. India categorically rejects the present so-called award, just as it has firmly rejected all prior pronouncements of the illegally constituted CoA," MEA Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said in response to media queries on matters pertaining to the so-called Court of Arbitration.

"India has never recognised the establishment of this so-called CoA. Any proceeding, award, or decision issued by it is null and void. India's decision to hold the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance remains in force," the Spokesperson added.

India has never recognised the establishment of CoA and said any proceeding, award, or decision issued by it is null and void.

In a statement in June last year, India had said that it never recognised the existence in law of this so-called Court of Arbitration, and India's position has all along been that the constitution of this so-called arbitral body is in itself a serious breach of the Indus Waters Treaty.

It said that any proceedings before this forum and any award or decision taken by it are also for that reason illegal and per se void.

Following the Pahalgam terrorist attack, India had in exercise of its rights as a sovereign nation under international law, placed the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance, until Pakistan credibly and irrevocably abjures its support for cross-border terrorism.

"Until such time that the Treaty is in abeyance, India is no longer bound to perform any of its obligations under the Treaty. No Court of Arbitration, much less this illegally constituted arbitral body which has no existence in the eye of law, has the jurisdiction to examine the legality of India's actions in exercise of its rights as a sovereign," MEA had said in a release.

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