Pakistan has evacuated at least 150,000 people to safer areas after neighbouring India released water from overflowing dams and swollen rivers into low-lying border regions, officials said on Tuesday.
The move came a day after New Delhi alerted Islamabad about possible cross-border flooding, marking the first public diplomatic contact between the two nuclear-armed rivals in months.
Pakistan’s National Disaster Management Authority said it had issued an advanced alert about a surge in the Sutlej River and the risk of flooding, and that evacuations from various districts in the eastern Punjab province were underway.
In a statement, it said rescuers evacuated more than 14,000 people from Kasur, a district in Punjab province, while over 89,000 were moved to safer ground from the city of Bahawalnagar, near the Indian border.
The NDMA said authorities have urged residents to stay away from rivers, streams and low-lying areas, avoid unnecessary travel, and follow alerts issued through the media, mobile phones and the NDMA’s disaster alert app.
The latest flood alert and evacuation drive by Pakistan comes as heavy monsoon rains continue to batter both South Asian countries.
Nationwide, floods triggered by seasonal rains have killed more than 800 people in Pakistan since June 26.
In Kashmir, which is split between the two sides and claimed by both in its entirety, dozens have also died and thousands have been displaced in the Indian-administered part of the region.
Tension over Indus treaty deepens
The flood alert was conveyed to Pakistan through diplomatic channels rather than the Indus Waters Commission, the permanent mechanism created under the 1960 World Bank-brokered Indus Waters Treaty. After the May clash between India and Pakistan, New Delhi said it was holding the treaty in abeyance.
Pakistan says India cannot scrap the treaty unilaterally.
The treaty had earlier survived two wars between the countries, in 1965 and 1971, and a major border skirmish in 1999.
