India alerts Pakistan to flood risk in first official contact in months
India has informed Pakistan about potential cross-border flooding following heavy monsoon rains, Pakistan's Foreign Ministry said Monday, marking the first public official contact between the two nuclear-armed neighbors in months.
The ministry said India conveyed the information through diplomatic channels rather than via the Indus Waters Commission, the permanent body set up under the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty. An Indian official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the warning was shared on humanitarian grounds and not under the treaty. There was no immediate comment from New Delhi.
This is the first known diplomatic-level contact since May, after India carried out missile strikes in Pakistan in response to the April killing of 26 tourists in Kashmir. Pakistan retaliated with its own strikes before a U.S.-brokered cease-fire took hold.
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The alert comes as monsoon rains continue to batter the region. Floods in Pakistan have killed nearly 800 people since June 26. Indian-administered Kashmir has also seen dozens of deaths.
The Indus Waters Treaty, suspended by India after the April attack, governs sharing of the Indus River system, with India controlling the eastern rivers and Pakistan the western rivers flowing through the disputed Kashmir region.
