There has been a sudden rise in the water level of the Jhelum River in Pakistan-administered Kashmir after India reportedly released water from the Uri dam on Saturday, according to media outlets in both countries.
This comes in the wake of a deadly militant attack on tourists in Pahalgam of Indian-administered Kashmir on April 22. At least 26 people, most of them tourists, died in the attack by gunmen.
India blamed Pakistan for the attack and responded by suspending the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) on April 23.
Both The Times of India and Pakistan's English-language daily Dawn have reported the release of water from the Uri dam.
Pakistan condemned the unannounced water release, as the sudden water level increase has created chaos in Muzaffarabad and the surrounding regions.
Indian authorities remained tight-lipped on the issue.
The Indus River System Authority (Irsa) discharged 118,500 cusecs of water on Saturday amid an inflow of 129,400 cusecs, the Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) reported.
Tarbela Dam's water level stood at 1431.43 feet, while Mangla Dam recorded 1129.60 feet, both significantly above their danger levels. Releases were also made at Kalabagh, Taunsa, Guddu, and Sukkur, along with flows from the River Kabul at Nowshera and the River Chenab at Marala, according to APP.
According to TOI, Pakistani authorities have accused India of deliberate "water terrorism", pointing to this as a breach of the IWT, a 1960 agreement between the two countries mediated by the World Bank to share river waters.
As per the treaty, Pakistan was granted exclusive control over the western tributaries of the Indus River, while India was given rights over the eastern ones despite all rivers originating in Indian-administered Kashmir.
The treaty has endured through at least three wars, but the recent attack in Pahalgam appears to have redrawn the lines.
Pakistani authorities have urged local residents to avoid riverbanks and refrain from fishing and grazing livestock near the water.
Comments