New Delhi: The drama over the Indus Water Treaty just got hotter! Pakistan has won a second round of assurances from the Court of Arbitration (CoA) in The Hague, focusing on tricky pondage and water level designs at hydel power projects on shared rivers. This comes months after the CoA first took action on Pakistan's demand in June, despite India refusing to join the proceedings. In a fresh Procedural Order No 16, dated November 8, the CoA accepted Pakistan's timely request for more clarifications. Pakistan wanted “certainty” on how the treaty applies to run-of-river hydropower projects (HEPs) in India. But here's the spicy twist – India calls this court "illegal" and has boycotted all recent hearings, including the one leading to the November 8 order. The CoA didn’t disappoint Pakistan. It expanded its decision-making power beyond just the 'freeboard' – the vertical space between a dam's top and the water surface – to include "all components" of run-of-river HEPs that India might build on the western rivers. This is a big move, widening the treaty's reach. Even more, the CoA ruled that India cannot design these projects to artificially raise water levels in the operating pool beyond set pondage levels, whether right away or through future changes. Crucially, the court said that during the design phase of a hydropower project, India must take into account these treaty guidelines. But if issues pop up after the project starts, just promising to restrain operations won’t do the job; stricter measures are needed. The court also made it clear that the list of info India must share with Pakistan isn’t complete — more data on maximum pondage might still be required. However, Pakistan didn't get everything it wanted. The CoA rejected Pakistan's requests for bans on crest gated and ungated spillways (which let overflow water pass), and denied clarifications on how India should figure out a project's installed capacity and expected load. So, the Indus Water Treaty saga continues with fresh twists! Pakistan is now armed with stronger clarifications from the Hague court, while India stays out of the game, calling the whole thing illegal. Will this raise the heat in future river water talks? Time will tell.