The floods in Pakistan from the water flowed downstream of India was exacerbated by the suspension of New Delhi of a river exchange treaty and the collapse of doors in an Indian alluvion, Pakistani officials said on Friday.
The rains of the torrential monsoon have devastated both India and Pakistan this week, with a more intense forecast for the weekend. On Friday, the floods reached the outskirts of Lahore, the second largest city in Pakistan, and threatened to immerse themselves in the main city of Jhang, in which the officials described as the worst flood in almost 40 years in that region.
The two countries share rivers that originate in India that flow to Pakistan, regulated for more than six decades under the Treaty of Indo’s waters. India suspended the treaty earlier this year after an attack that killed 26 people, which New Delhi blamed the militants backed by Islamabad, a position of Pakistan.
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Ahsan Iqbal, Pakistan planning minister, told Reuters that India had stopped sharing crucial river flow data.
“We could have achieved better if we had better information,” Iqbal said. “If the Indo Water Treaty was in operation, we could have mitigated the impact.”
The transmission images of the Indian media showing on Thursday that the middle section of the Madhopur Barge, which covers the Ravi River, had been dragged by growing water. Pakistani officials said that the damage unleashed uncontrolled flows across the border, flooding parts of Lahore.
A source of the Indian government denounced to deliberately flood Pakistan, but confirmed that two flood doors had collapsed. The source said the flows were being administered by the Ranjit Sagar upstream.
“India is doing what can be done and all the information is being transmitted,” said the source. “The incessant rain is causing this flood.”
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The Ministries of Foreigners and Water from India did not immediately respond to the requests for official comments. Pakistani officials said that New Delhi had issued four flood alerts since Sunday, including one on Friday, but without providing detailed data. Since suspending the 1960 treaty, India has communicated warnings through its embassy in Islamabad instead of directly among water officials.
IQBAL, whose Circumscription of Nareowal near the Indian border was severely affected, said that climate change had caused the monzón to be less predictable, which underlines the importance of cooperation.
“Climate change is not a bilateral problem,” he said. “It relates to humanity.”
In the Chenab River, the Pakistani authorities exploded on Friday part of the river edge to divert the water that threatened Jhang. The government evacuated more than one million people this week in eastern Pakistan, where three overflowing rivers of India represent a serious risk.
According to the National Authority for Disaster Management of Pakistan, 820 people have died in the country so far in this Monzón season. The flooded eastern region, home of half of the 240 million people in Pakistan and its agricultural heart, has suffered generalized damage to crops.
SAEED SHAH report in Islamabad, Mobasher Bukhari in Lahore and Krishna N. das in New Delhi. Write for Saeed Shah. Peter Graff edition.
