A Rescue 1122 boat evacuates people from the flooded area past partially submerged houses, following the monsoon rains and rising water level of the Sutlej River, in Chanda Singh Wala village near the Pakistan-India border in Kasur district of the Punjab province, Pakistan.
Credit: Reuters Photo
New Delhi: India has warned Pakistan about the "high probability" of flooding in the Sutlej river, with incessant rainfall in the northern states forcing the release of excess water from major dams, sources said on Tuesday.
The alerts were routed to Islamabad through the Ministry of External Affairs on "humanitarian grounds", they said.
Three alerts were issued by India last week for possible flooding in the Tawi River.
The warning issued on Tuesday was for probable floods on Wednesday in the Sutlej river, the sources said.
In Punjab, the Sutlej, Beas and Ravi rivers and seasonal rivulets are in spate because of heavy rainfall in their catchment areas.
India suspended the routine exchange of hydrological data with Pakistan under the Indus Waters Treaty after the Pahalgam terror attack in which 26 people, mostly tourists, were killed in Jammu and Kashmir on April 22.
Despite the suspension, the fresh flood warnings were communicated purely on humanitarian grounds to Pakistan to prevent loss of lives and property, the sources said.
Signed in 1960 and brokered by the World Bank, the Indus Waters Treaty has long governed the sharing of river waters between India and Pakistan.