- India alerted Pakistan via its High Commission about possible major floods in the Tawi River in Jammu
- The Indus Waters Treaty has been suspended by India since the April Pahalgam terror attack on tourists
- The flood alert was conveyed through diplomatic channels as a goodwill gesture
Amid heightened diplomatic tensions between India and Pakistan, New Delhi reportedly extended a goodwill gesture on Sunday and alerted Islamabad about the flood situation in the Tawi River. The information was forwarded via the Indian High Commission in Islamabad, as the usual Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) channel remains in abeyance after the Pahalgam terror attack, Pakistani media reported, citing official sources.
There has been no official confirmation regarding the development by either India or Pakistan, but if the claims are true, it would mark the first time India used its diplomatic mission to convey such information.
Ideally, such inputs are shared through the Indus Water Commissioners, under the decades-old Indus Waters Treaty, which has been in abeyance after a terror attack in Pahalgam, where terrorists targeted tourists, killing 25 Indian nationals and one Nepalese citizen, and leaving several others injured.
Citing sources, reports claimed that India has alerted Pakistan about a possible major flood in the Tawi River in Jammu. The Indian High Commission in Islamabad reportedly conveyed the alert on Sunday.
Pakistani authorities have issued warnings based on the information provided by India, it added.
Indus Waters Treaty
Beginning in Tibet, the Indus River flows through Kashmir before traversing the entire length of Pakistan. The Indus Water Treaty, brokered by the World Bank, has governed the use of the Indus River and its tributaries between India and Pakistan since 1960.
The treaty gives India 20 per cent of the water from the Indus River System and the rest 80 per cent to Pakistan. It allocates the western rivers (Indus, Jhelum, Chenab) to Pakistan and the eastern rivers (Ravi, Beas, Sutlej) to India. At the same time, it allows each country certain uses of the rivers allocated to the other.
A day after the Pahalgam terror attack on April 22, India took a series of punitive measures against Pakistan that included putting the Indus Waters Treaty in "abeyance".
With the suspension of the treaty, India has stopped sharing the water level data in the three rivers with Pakistan. During Monsoons, India's early warnings about rising waters in the three rivers helped Pakistan issue timely evacuation warnings to people living in low-lying areas in Punjab and Sindh provinces.
The move is seen as a goodwill gesture amid worsening bilateral ties between the two nuclear-powered neighbours after a brief military conflict in May.
Floods In Pakistan
The monsoon season, which shows no sign of easing, has continued to wreak havoc across Pakistan, leaving widespread destruction in its wake. At least 788 people have lost their lives, and more than 1,000 others have sustained injuries as relentless rains continue to batter the South Asian nation since June 26.
The number of dead includes 200 children, 117 women and 471 men, Pakistan's leading daily Dawn reported, citing figures released by Pakistan's National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA). Punjab recorded 165 fatalities, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa reported the highest with 469 deaths, followed by Sindh with 51, Balochistan with 24, Pakistan-occupied Gilgit-Baltistan with 45, Pakistan-occupied Kashmir with 23, and Islamabad with eight.
Across the border in India, Jammu and Kashmir Jal Shakti Minister Javed Ahmed Rana on Sunday directed officials to ensure round-the-clock monitoring of water levels across all major river systems, with focus on the Indus basin's Jhelum, Ravi and Tawi rivers and their tributaries.
Authorities have already issued advisories and asked people to stay away from water bodies and landslide-prone areas amid a weather forecast predicting moderate to intense rainfall with the possibility of cloudbursts, flash floods and landslides in high altitude areas till August 27.
