India on Tuesday lashed out at Pakistan over its circulation of a letter to the UN Security Council regarding a recent pronouncement by a Court of Arbitration linked to the Indus Waters Treaty, calling the tribunal illegally constituted and saying Islamabad was propagating falsehoods.
“Pakistan has a habit of misrepresenting facts and propagating falsehoods to serve its malicious propaganda. For starters, the so-called ruling is not a ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration, as sought to be projected by the Pakistan minister, but by an illegally constituted court,” Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said at a weekly briefing.
“We see this as just one more attempt by Pakistan at distorting the reality. Our position on this issue is very clear and we have reiterated it several times,” he added.
India has consistently rejected the Court of Arbitration, saying it was constituted in violation of the Indus Waters Treaty and that it has never recognised the body or participated in its proceedings. New Delhi has also maintained that the tribunal has no jurisdiction over India’s sovereign decisions and that its pronouncements have no bearing on India’s actions.
In April last year, India paused the Indus Waters Treaty following the Pahalgam terror attack, which killed 26 people. New Delhi has said the treaty would remain in abeyance until Pakistan credibly and irrevocably ends its support for cross-border terrorism.
On August 31, the Court of Arbitration issued an award saying the Indus Waters Treaty remained in force and that India could not unilaterally place it in abeyance. India immediately rejected the ruling, saying the CoA was “illegally constituted” and had no jurisdiction over India’s sovereign decision.
During the briefing, Jaiswal said Pakistan must take “credible action” against cross-border terrorism before the world believes Islamabad would do what it says.
“Pakistan needs to demonstrate action and firm commitment. And it must take credible action against cross-border terrorism before the world believes it would do what it says,” he said.
Jaiswal’s remarks came days after Pakistan increased the bounty on Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief Masood Azhar by PKR 20 lakh to PKR 70 lakh in its latest list of most-wanted terrorists, weeks before the Financial Action Task Force plenary in October. India dismissed the move as a “gimmick” and a “phoney announcement”, saying Islamabad needs to take concrete action against Azhar instead.
Pakistan has claimed that Azhar is no longer in the country and is hiding in Afghanistan. Indian intelligence agencies, however, believe he is in Nawabshah in Pakistan’s Sindh province. The assessment is based on technical analysis conducted over the past six months, sources told India Today TV earlier.
Azhar is wanted in India in connection with several attacks, including the 2001 Parliament attack and the February 2019 Pulwama bombing in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed.
– Ends
(with inputs from PTI)
Published By:
Prateek Chakraborty
Published On:
Sep 23, 2026 10:35 IST
