The Permanent Court of Arbitration in 2013, issued a judgment, on the construction of Kishanganga Hydro-electric Project (KHEP) by India, which restructures and modernises the Indus Water Treaty (IWT) between India and Pakistan.
The Kishanganga river, rising near Gurez, is a tributary of the Jhelum. Flowing through J&K it crosses the Line of Control to enter POK as the Neelum river before merging with the Jhelum near Muzaffarabad. Since 2009, a hydro-electric project is being constructed by India with a planned capacity of 330 MW by diverting the waters of the Kishanganga river through a 23-km-long tunnel. It is expected to be completed by 2016.
In 2010, Pakistan approached the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) for arbitration under IWT challenging inter-tributary diversion.The PCA in 2013 issued a partial award stating that since the KHEP was a runThe PCA, however, decided that India should maintain a minimum flow of water in the river .In its final award, the PCA unanimously decided on the question of minimum flow that was left unresolved by the partial award, a decision to be binding upon both countries and not open to appeal. The court decided that India shall release a minimum flow of 318 cusecs into the Kishanganga/Neelum river below the KHEP at all times.
