The Neutral Expert, appointed by the World Bank, has stated that it is qualified to resolve the dispute between India and Pakistan regarding two hydropower projects in Jammu and Kashmir, under the Indus Water Treaty. This decision supports India's stance and was welcomed by New Delhi on Tuesday.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) stated in a statement that "it has been India's consistent and principled position that the Neutral Expert alone has the competence under the Treaty to decide these differences" with regard to the Union Territory's Kishenganga and Ratle hydroelectric power plants. "The decision upholds and vindicates India's stand that all seven (07) questions that were referred to the Neutral Expert, in relation to the Kishenganga and Ratle hydroelectric projects, are differences falling within his competence under the Treaty," it said. Pakistan has not yet responded to the issue.

In 2022, the World Bank appointed a Neutral Expert and a chairman for the Court of Arbitration to address disagreements between the two countries over the 1960 Indus Water Treaty, specifically regarding the Kishenganga and Ratle hydroelectric power plants. The treaty, signed after nine years of talks, includes the Washington-based World Bank as a signatory. It outlines a process for cooperation and sharing information between India and Pakistan about their use of the rivers. However, the two countries disagree on whether the technical design of the Kishenganga and Ratle hydroelectric power plants violates the treaty. 

India asked for the appointment of a Neutral Expert to examine similar concerns with the two hydroelectric power projects, while Pakistan requested the World Bank to help establish a Court of Arbitration to address its reservations regarding the designs of the two projects. "Having carefully considered and analysed the Parties' submissions... The Neutral Expert accordingly finds that he should proceed to render a decision on the merits of the Points of Difference," the neutral expert said in a statement released on Monday. "In the light of the foregoing, the Neutral Expert also finds no need to address Pakistan's second alternative submission," it said.

In its statement, the MEA said that "having upheld his own competence, which comports with India's view, the Neutral Expert will now proceed to the next (merits) phase of his proceeding. This phase will culminate in a final decision on the merits of each of the seven differences." Additionally, it stated that India will keep taking part in the Neutral Expert process in order to ensure that disagreements are settled in a way that complies with the Treaty's clauses prohibiting parallel processes on the same set of issues.

It further stated that it "does not recognise or participate in the illegally constituted Court of Arbitration proceedings. The Governments of India and Pakistan also remain in touch on the matter of modification and review of the Indus Waters Treaty, under Article XII (3) of the Treaty," it said.