Pakistan Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif made waves this week after claiming that floodwater entering the country from India had carried ‘dead bodies’. More than a million people were evacuated from their homes in Pakistan this week as the Punjab province faced its worst flooding in four decades. Torrential monsoon rain has left over 1,400 villages were inundated and also and submerged vital grains crops. India had also issued a flood warning for the neighbouring country last week — highlighting the possibility of downstream flooding as it opened the gates of major dams in the Kashmir region.
According to a Pakistani news portal, Asif told reporters that floodwaters entering from India had carried ‘dead bodies and livestock’. The update shared by Dialogue Pakistan came while the Defence Minister was visiting flood-affected areas in Sialkot to assess the damage. Asif claimed that locals had witnessed corpses being ‘swept across the border’ and noted that Sialkot lay downstream from water channels originating in Jammu.
India issues flood alert for Pakistan
India had alerted Pakistan about possible cross-border flooding earlier this week — marking the first public diplomatic contact between the two nuclear-armed rivals in months. Indian officials said on Tuesday that most rivers and streams were overflowing with muddy waters inundating homes in several places and damaging roads and bridges. New Delhi opened all gates of on rivers in its part of the Kashmir region on Tuesday as water levels continued to rise amid heavy rainfall. Pakistani officials — including Asif — later confirmed that Islamabad had received the warnings and subsequently issued a flood alert for three rivers that flow into the country from India.
Pakistan blaming India for crisis?
Torrential monsoon rains have wrought havoc in both Pakistan and India this week with fresh downpours predicted for the weekend. Officials in Islamabad now insist that the situation was made worse by the suspension of the Indus Water Treaty and the collapse of Madhopur barrage gates on Thursday. New Delhi had suspended the Indus Water Treaty earlier this year (after more than six decades) following the deadly Pahalgam terror attack. Indian authorities have refuted claims that any deliberate attempt was made to ‘flood’ Pakistan.
“We could have managed better if we had better information. If the Indus Waters Treaty was in operation, we could have mitigated the impact,” Pakistani Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal told Reuters.
Indian authorities said they were trying to stem the flow on the Ravi River, despite the damage to the barrage, and the flow was being controlled by the Ranjit Sagar Dam upstream.
“India is doing whatever can be done and all the information is being passed on…Incessant rain is causing this flood.” a source told Reuters.