Mass evacuations in eastern Pakistan as India releases water from swollen rivers

Residents stand at the entrance of a house on a flooded road, due to the monsoon rains and rising water level of the Sutlej River. (Image; Reuters)

Pakistan has evacuated tens of thousands of people to safer areas after neighboring India released water from overflowing dams and swollen rivers into low-lying border regions, officials said 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 advance alert to its Punjabi counterparts 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.

In Pakistan’s northwest, many residents complained this month that they had received no warning before flash floods struck Buner district, killing more than 300 people. Officials have said the devastation was caused by a sudden cloudburst, which could not have been predicted, and that many of the victims were living along natural water pathways.

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.

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, which was suspended by New Delhi after the April killing of 26 tourists in Indian-controlled Kashmir.

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. The suspension of treaty and scaling down of diplomatic ties by India over the killing of tourists eventually set off tit-for-tat missile strikes by the both sides in May.

The exchange ended only after U.S. President Donald Trump announced that he had brokered a ceasefire. Since then, the two sides have not taken steps to normalize ties.

Pakistan in recent months has witnessed multiple cloudburst floods and more than normal rainfall. Pakistan’s annual monsoon season runs from July through September.

Scientists and weather forecasters have blamed climate change for heavier rains in recent years in the region. This year's heavy rains have raised fears of a repeat of the 2022 downpour, also blamed on climate change, that inundated a third of the country and killed 1,739 people.