New Delhi: India has strongly rejected allegations circulating in sections of the Pakistani media that it deliberately caused flooding across the border, describing the claims as baseless, factually incorrect and technically untenable.
Addressing a media briefing on Friday, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said the recent rise in the Chenab River’s water level was the result of intense monsoon rainfall over Jammu and adjoining catchment areas between July 20 and July 23. He stressed that the increase in river flow was a natural hydrological response to heavy rainfall and not the outcome of any deliberate action by India.
Jaiswal pointed out that Pakistan’s own Flood Forecasting Division had issued an advisory on July 22 attributing the higher water levels in the Chenab River to heavy rainfall in the upper catchment region. He said the advisory itself acknowledged that the elevated flows were expected to gradually recede as rainfall decreased, contradicting claims that India had manipulated river flows.
Responding to allegations that India failed to provide timely flood warnings, the MEA said the river discharge during the period did not reach extraordinary levels that required special alerts. According to the ministry, the observed flows were consistent with normal monsoon conditions, making accusations of withholding information without factual basis.
India also reiterated that it would continue to share high flood data with Pakistan on humanitarian grounds through diplomatic channels whenever necessary, as it had done previously.
During the briefing, the government reaffirmed its position on the Indus Waters Treaty, stating that the agreement will remain in abeyance until Pakistan takes credible and irreversible steps to end its support for cross border terrorism.
The treaty, signed in 1960 to govern the sharing of waters from the Indus river system, was placed in abeyance by India following the Pahalgam terror attack. New Delhi has maintained that any future implementation of the agreement depends on Pakistan addressing India’s concerns over terrorism.
