'Charade at Pak's behest': India turns down 'Illegal' Indus award

Court of Arbitration has neither jurisdiction nor legitimacy, its decision null & void: MEA

- JAYANTH JACOB @ New Delhi

INDIA on Friday categorically rejected a recent "supplemental award" issued by what it described as an "illegal" Court of Arbitration purportedly set up under the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty, calling the panel's formation a violation of the very pact and its rulings "void and without legal standing."

In a strongly-worded five-point statement, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said the so-called Court of Arbitration—reportedly acting on complaints by Pakistan over India's Kishenganga and Ratle hydroelectric projects in Jammu and Kashmir—has no jurisdiction or legitimacy.