New Delhi, Sept. 1 -- India on Monday rejected the Permanent Court of Arbitration's order setting aside its decision to suspend the Indus Waters Treaty with Pakistan, saying it had never recognised the existence of the "illegally-constituted" court in The Hague. The Indian government also rejected the Permanent Court of Arbitration's order on interim measures prohibiting New Delhi from building certain structures of the Ratle hydroelectric project in Jammu and Kashmir. "India's decision to hold the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance remains in force," the external affairs ministry said in a statement that rejected the Court of Arbitration's awards.. India held the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance as part of a package of punitive diplomatic and economic measures unveiled in April 2025 in response to the Pahalgam terror attack, carried out by a proxy for Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). Pakistan, which has said any denial of its share of waters of cross-border rivers will be considered an act of war, approached the court in The Hague in March this year to determine the status of the water-sharing treaty. The external affairs ministry described the "so-called Court of Arbitration" as illegally constituted and said: "This so-called court was constituted by the World Bank in patent breach of the terms of the treaty and India categorically rejects its so-called award, just as it has firmly rejected all prior pronouncements by this illegally constituted body." India has "never recognised the existence in law of this illegally-constituted and so-called Court of Arbitration", and has always said the "very establishment of this alleged arbitral body constitutes a grave violation of the Indus Waters Treaty", according to the statement. "Accordingly, India has never appeared before this body and has refused to take any cognisance of its earlier pronouncements," it said. The Court of Arbitration has "no jurisdiction whatsoever to pronounce on India's sovereign decisions" and its "pronouncements, now or in the future, will have no effect on India's actions in connection with the projects being undertaken by India". Since it suspended the treaty, the Indian side has stepped up work on several hydropower projects in Jammu and Kashmir that Pakistan had opposed under the provisions of the pact signed in 1960. Among these are the Ratle and Kishenganga hydropower projects, over which Pakistan had sought the formation of a court of arbitration. The Permanent Court of Arbitration said in a press release that the court considered the meaning of India's decision to suspend the treaty, "finding that it could only be a claim that the Indus Waters Treaty is either suspended or terminated". The court examined the potential grounds on which India can suspend or terminate the treaty, including grounds cited by New Delhi in its public statements. "In a unanimous decision, the court found that none of these grounds could justify suspension or termination of the treaty. Accordingly, the Indus Waters Treaty remains fully in force, and India must observe its obligations under the treaty, including those relating to the design and operation of its hydro-electric projects on the Western Rivers," the press release said....