Day 391: India MEA Formally Reaffirms Indus Waters Treaty Remains 'In Abeyance' — PCA May 15 Award Remains 'Null and Void'

At India's weekly MEA press briefing on June 5, 2026, spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal formally reaffirmed that the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) — put in abeyance by India on April 23, 2025, following the Pahalgam attack — will not be restored until Pakistan 'credibly and irrevocably ends cross-border terrorism.' India reiterated its rejection of the Permanent Court of Arbitration's (PCA) May 15, 2026 Supplemental Award of Competence as 'null and void' from an 'illegally constituted tribunal.' The June 5 reaffirmation is the clearest post-June 1 Shangri-La statement by India's diplomatic apparatus that the water dimension of the post-Pahalgam standoff is not moving toward resolution. The IWT — brokered by the World Bank in 1960 — allocated approximately 80% of the Indus river system's flow to Pakistan. Pakistan's agriculture depends on Indus system water for approximately 90% of irrigation. India's upstream hydraulic infrastructure projects (Chenab-Beas Link Tunnel, Ratle, Pakal Dul, Kiru, Kwar) are continuing on the western rivers covered by the treaty. Pakistan formally escalated the IWT dispute to the UN Security Council on April 24, 2026 — the first UNSC letter in the treaty's 65-year history. The June 5 MEA statement comes amid Pakistan's diplomatic efforts at the EU-Pakistan Strategic Dialogue (June 2) and GB elections (June 7) to internationalize the post-Sindoor disputes. India's refusal to engage on the IWT until Pakistan's terrorism stance changes means the water crisis remains structurally entrenched with no diplomatic pathway in sight. The ceasefire holds at Day 391 with the LOC quiet since May 10, 2025.