The floods in Pakistan of water flowing downstream from India were exacerbated by the suspension of New Delhi from a river sharing treaty and the collapse of the doors on an Indian dam, Pakistani officials announced on Friday.
Torrential monsoon rains ravaged India and Pakistan this week, with heavier showers planned for the weekend. Friday, flood waters reached the outskirts of Lahore, the second city in Pakistan, and threatened to overwhelm the big city of Jhang, in what officials have described as the worst floods in almost 40 years in this region.
The two countries share rivers from India, which take place in Pakistan, regulated for more than six decades under the Industry Water Treaty. India suspended the treaty earlier this year following an attack that killed 26 people, which New Delhi blamed the militants supported by Islamabad – an accusation of Pakistan denies.
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Ahsan Iqbal, Minister of Pakistan, told Reuters that India had ceased to share crucial data on the flow of rivers.
“We could have managed better if we had better information,” said Iqbal. “If the Industry Water Treaty was active, we could have reduced the impact.”
The Indian media broadcast images on Thursday showing that the central section of the Madhopur dam, which extends over the Ravi river, had been swept away by the rising water. Pakistani officials have said that uncontrolled unleashed damage through the border, flooding parts of Lahore.
A source from the Indian government denied having deliberately flooded Pakistan, but confirmed that two doors of the dam had collapsed. The source said that the flows were managed by the Ranjit Sagar dam upstream.
“India does everything that can be done and all the information is transmitted,” said the source. “The incessant rain causes this flood.”
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The ministries of foreigners and water from India did not immediately respond to requests for official comments. Pakistani officials said New Delhi had published four flooding alerts since Sunday, including one Friday, but without providing detailed data. Since the suspension of the 1960 treaty, India has communicated warnings through its embassy in Islamabad instead of being directly between water officials.
Iqbal, whose own district of Narowal near the Indian border has been seriously affected, said that climate change had made the monsoon less predictable, stressing the importance of cooperation.
“Climate change is not a bilateral problem,” he said. “This concerns humanity.”
On the Chenab river, the Pakistani authorities exploded part of the shore to divert the water threatening Jhang. The government has evacuated more than a million people this week in eastern Pakistan, where three rivers overflowing from India are a serious risk.
According to the National Disaster Management Authority from Pakistan, 820 people have died in the country so far this monsoon season. The flooded eastern region, which houses half of the 240 million people in Pakistan and its agricultural heart, has undergone general damage.
Report by Saeed Shah in Islamabad, Mubasher Bukhari in Lahore and Krishna N. Das in New Delhi. Writing by Saeed Shah. Edition by Peter Graff.
