IWT dispute moves forward without India

Pakistan on Wednesday said that it continued to fully participate in good faith in the Neutral Expert proceedings, with its next phase scheduled to take place on November 17-21 in Vienna.

"The Neutral Expert proceedings were initiated on India's request, with their next phase scheduled to take place in Vienna from 17-21 November 2025. While India has decided to halt its participation, Pakistan continues to fully participate in the Neutral Expert proceedings in good faith," Foreign Office spokesperson Tahir Andrabi said in a statement.

The Hague's Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) had issued its Award on Issues of General Interpretation of the IWT on August 8. On September 19, Pakistan initiated an arbitration against India under the provisions of the IWT, which India suspended unilaterally following a four-day conflict between the two countries in May.

The PCA on Saturday issued clarifications on its decisions surrounding the treaty in response to the request, which concerned the interpretation and application of the IWT to certain design elements of run-of-river hydroelectric plants (HEPs).

The foreign Office spokesperson said that the Neutral Expert had ruled that India's non-participation could not operate as a bar to the proceedings going forward.

The spokesperson said that in the context of the arbitration initiated by Pakistan against India under the provisions of the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT), Pakistan had taken note of the recent Decision of the Court of Arbitration which has offered helpful clarification on certain aspects of the Court's 'Award on Issues of General Interpretation of the Indus Waters Treaty', published on 8 August 2025.

Pakistan has also taken note of the Procedural Order issued in parallel with the decision which affirms that the Court will continue to conduct these proceedings in a phased manner and would take into account the proceedings taking place before the Neutral Expert under Article IX and Annexure F of the IWT, he added.

According to a press release issued by the PCA, the requested clarifications included those in relation to Article III, which concerns the Western rivers, and paragraph 8 of Annexure D, which concerns new run-of-river hydro-electric plants that India may construct on these rivers.

"The award also addressed a related question on the legal effect of decisions issued by dispute resolution bodies under the Treaty (namely, courts of arbitration and neutral experts)," the press release said.

The court found Pakistan's request for clarification to be "timely" and provided clarifications as to the meaning and scope of several aspects of its decisions, as well as its reasoning behind them. According to the statement, it also found that its clarifications would have the same binding effect as the original award.

The court clarified that its decisions on paragraph 8(a) of Annexure D to the treaty were "not limited to freeboard but, rather, extend to all components of run-of-river hydro-electric plants that India may construct on the Western rivers". It also stated that the decisions "further prohibit any design that would allow … the works themselves to be capable of raising artificially the water level in the operating pool above the Full Pondage Level specified in the design", whether from the outset or via later modifications.