ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Friday expressed satisfaction with the supplemental award by the Court of Arbitration (CoA) concerning the maximum pondage relating to the Rattle and Kishenganga projects and said India’s stance carried no legal political value.
“This award, we believe, reaffirms Pakistan’s longstanding position that the treaty imposes substantive limits on India’s water control capabilities on the western rivers. It clarifies the pondage for run of the river projects must be justified on the basis of genuine operational needs, hydroelectric and hydraulic conditions, power system requirements, and treaty mandated information. It should not be done through unrealistic assumptions or broad reference of compliance, as done by India”, said the Foreign Office spokesperson Tahir Andrabi at the weekly media briefing here.
“Pakistan rejects this legally untenable attempt by India to dismiss the Court of Arbitration supplemental award on 15th May.
The court was constituted under the Indus Water Treaty (IWT) and the Treaty’s dispute settlement mechanism. Its awards are final and binding. India’s refusal to participate cannot invalidate lawful proceedings or render the award “null and void”, as quoted.
First of all, there is no exit clause in Indus Water Treaty. There is no way that any party can walk away from this treaty or hold it in abeyance. What India is doing is not just the violation of the Indus Water Treaty, but also the violation of the UN Laws of Treaty. There is a very strict legal indictment of doing it”, he added since a party that commits such a violation is legally indictable, and its reputation is also damaged.
The spokesperson said Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will leave for China today on an official four-day visit, asserting that this particular visit assumes special significance as Pakistan and China commemorate the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations.
“It will provide an opportunity to reaffirm the abiding strength of the Pakistan-China all-weather strategic cooperative partnership and advance the shared vision of building an even closer Pakistan-China community with a shared future”, said Andrabi.
The visit comes on the heels of the recent visit to Beijing by US President Trump and Russia’s Putin, but surprisingly the Foreign Office did not give any details of the delegation that will accompany him.
Earlier, it was reported that Field Marshal Asim Munir would also be part of the delegation but now with the chief in Iran, it is not clear whether he will join the prime minister during the visit.
However, it is expected that a big business delegation will accompany the prime minister.
Giving further details, Andrabi said Shehbaz will hold meetings with the Chinese leadership, including President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang, with Pakistan hoping that the visit will further deepen political trust, strengthen strategic coordination, expand practical cooperation and consolidate the longstanding friendship between the two nations.
The two sides will review bilateral cooperation in political, economic, and strategic domains, with particular focus on the high-quality development of CPEC, trade, investment, industrial cooperation, agriculture modernization, information technology, science and technology and people-to-people exchanges.
The prime minister will begin his visit from Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, where he will chair Pakistan-China B2B Investment Conference on IT & Telecom, Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) and Agriculture.
To a query, the spokesperson explained that Pakistan and China had maintained a close coordination on the standoff in the Middle East/Gulf and its peace efforts in this regard.
“You would recall that our Deputy Prime Minister/Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar visited China last month. We agreed on a five-point principle, which was issued as a joint statement. So, yes, this issue will be discussed during the prime minister’s visit. China has been supportive of Pakistan’s efforts. Whilst the primary focus of the prime minister’s visit is bilateral, the content of the visit is geared towards our bilateral relations – political relations, economic issues that I highlighted in my opening statement. However, this issue (peace efforts between Iran and the US) will come up during the discussion between our prime minister and the Chinese leadership”, he said.
In Beijing, the prime minister will attend a reception hosted by the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries to commemorate the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Pakistan and China.
On the issue of Pakistanis deportation from the UAE, the spokesperson said the government had rejected reports pointing at a trend (of deportation).
“There may be isolated incidents. Individuals who were issued emergency travel documents pointing out to the emergent nature of deportation – total number was around 2000 or 3000. If you look at the size of the community, which is over two million, these figures are not very significant, particularly when viewed in the light of the royal pardon given to prisoners who were held there, and as a result of the pardon, their sentence got commuted and they were deported”, he clarified.
