NEW DELHI/ ISLAMABAD – India has issued a cross-border flood warning to Pakistan, according to Pakistani authorities and a source in New Delhi, as both nations struggle with severe monsoon flooding and casualties.
This act of information sharing came unexpectedly, especially since India suspended its participation in the decades-old Indus Waters Treaty in April. The move followed accusations that Pakistan was linked to an attack on Hindu pilgrims in Indian-administered Kashmir, a claim Islamabad has strongly rejected. The situation deteriorated further in May, leading to the most intense military standoff between the two nuclear-armed nations in years.
According to an Indian government source, India’s high commission in Islamabad relayed the flood alert to Pakistan’s foreign ministry on Sunday. The communication was made on “humanitarian grounds,” not as part of obligations under the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty. The source, citing official protocols, spoke on condition of anonymity. India’s Ministry of External Affairs has yet to comment.
Pakistan’s foreign ministry confirmed that the alert came through diplomatic channels rather than via the Indus Waters Commission, as is standard under the treaty.
This month’s heavy rains have caused significant devastation in the region, claiming at least 60 lives in India’s Jammu and Kashmir territory and nearly 400 in northwestern Pakistan.
