Pakistan spends nearly $6 million on Hague water dispute despite austerity cuts

Pakistan’s latest budget allocates $7.9 million to its Indus Waters mission, dwarfing the $1.2 million set aside for flood-related agencies such as the Federal Flood Commission. Since 2016, the country has spent nearly $6 million on a Hague arbitration over India’s Ratle and Kishenganga hydropower projects, a figure that includes the amount the court requested from India, which has refused to pay or join the proceedings.

While India participates in World Bank-run expert meetings, it stays out of the Permanent Court of Arbitration, which Pakistan continues to fund alone. The spending occurs amid a broad austerity program that has halved fuel allowances for official vehicles, banned new government car purchases and cut non-employee expenditures by 5%. Observers argue that the high legal costs, paid to London-based barristers and technical advisers, are opaque and outweigh the modest funding for domestic flood mitigation, highlighting a mismatch between national priorities and water-security needs.