ISLAMABAD:Accusing India of waging "fifth-generation warfare", Pakistan saidNew Delhi had failed to inform it about the release of water from a dam thatcould cause flooding across the border. India, however, rejected the claimsaying that under the terms of a water treaty between the two nations it hadinformed Pakistan about the release of excess water late on Monday when itcrossed a certain threshold.
Relations betweenthe neighbors, already hostile, have been further strained over India'sdecision this month to revoke the special status of its portion of the Kashmirregion that both countries claim. Pakistan reacted with fury, cutting transportand trade links and expelling India's ambassador in retaliation. Islamabad saidthe unexpected release of water into the River Sutlej that flows from India toPakistan was part of an attempt by New Delhi to flout the longstanding treatybetween the countries.
"They try toisolate diplomatically, they try to strangulate economically, they're trying tostrangulate our water resources - and water automatically will have an impacton your economy, your agriculture and your irrigation," Muzammil Hussain,chairman of the Pakistani government's Water and Power Development Authority(WAPDA), told Reuters. India was using its position upstream to wage"fifth-generation warfare" on the country, said Hussain.
India's federalwater resources ministry told Reuters late on Monday that under the treatyadvance information needs to be given in a situation when "extraordinarydischarges of water from reservoirs and flood flows" could harm the otherparty. Until today no such extraordinary discharges had been observed on theIndian side in the current flood season. At 1900 IST (1330 GMT), the flow ofSutlej river reached the threshold level of high flood and the same wasconveyed to Pakistan, the ministry said in a statement, adding that it iscommitted to the treaty.
Pakistaniemergency authorities were preparing for minor flooding in several areas inPunjab state on Monday as a result of the unexpected rise in water flow, thoughit was not clear if any had occurred. "India did not communicate therelease of water to Pakistan," Khurram Shahzed, director general of PunjabProvincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA), told Reuters.
India andPakistan have long argued over water resources. A World Bank-mediatedarrangement known as the Indus Water Treaty splits the Indus River and itstributaries - which 80 percent of Pakistan's irrigated agriculture depends on -between the countries. India, which lies upstream, threatened in February tostop sharing excess water with Pakistan after a suicide bomb attack by aPakistan-based militant group in Kashmir that killed 40 Indian paramilitarypolice.
Hussain saidIndian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had "threatened very clearly that hecould stop water to Pakistan. He couldn't care less (for) the treaties".In 2016, after suspending a meeting on the Indus Water Treaty, Modi toldgovernment officials that "blood and water cannot flow together".India says a program of maximizing its water usage by building hydroelectricplants is in line with the treaty. - Reuters