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27-08-2025
Bureau Report
ISLAMABAD: Pakistani officials have started evacuating tens of thousands of people after neighboring India released water from overflowing dams and swollen rivers into low-lying border regions.
The move came a day after New Delhi alerted Islamabad about possible cross-border flooding, the first public diplomatic contact between the two countries since a four-day war in May.
The latest flood alert and evacuation drive by Pakistan comes as heavy monsoon rains continue to batter both South Asian countries, with at least 800 people reported killed in Pakistan since late June.
Pakistan’s National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) said it had issued an advance alert to officials in Punjab province about a surge in the Sutlej River and the risk of flooding, and that evacuations from various districts in the eastern parts of the province were under way.
In a statement, it said rescuers evacuated more than 14,000 people from Kasur, while about 89,000 were moved to safer ground from the city of Bahawalnagar, near the border with India.
It also warned that heavy rainfall was forecast across several Indian states, which could swell rivers and streams flowing towards Pakistan, media reported.
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 India walked out of after it blamed Pakistan for the April killing of 26 tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir.
The move and scaling down of diplomatic ties by India eventually set off missile strikes by both sides in May.
Pakistan, a country very susceptible to the effects of climate change, in recent months has witnessed multiple cloudburst floods and more than normal rainfall.
In the country’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.
Meanwhile, Pakistan has been reeling from flooding triggered by torrential rains, with more than 400 people killed since August 14.
On Wednesday, Karachi was inundated following a heavy downpour, paralyzing the southern port city of 20 million people less than a week after deadly flash floods swept away villages in the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
More than 700 people have been killed in the flooding and landslides across the South Asian nation since June, with forecasters warning of further downpours until Saturday.
So why have floods in Pakistan been so intense, and what is the solution to the
Where did it flood in Pakistan?
The Buner district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province has been the worst hit, with more than 200 people killed and extensive damage to homes and public infrastructure across the northwestern mountainous province since August 14.
The Himalayan region of Gilgit-Baltistan, as well as Pakistan-administered Kashmir, was also affected.
Karachi, the capital of the southern Sindh province, was hit by floods after rainfall on Tuesday. Videos circulating on social media showed cars and motorbikes submerged in water.
