2LT International News

LAHORE, Pakistan: India has issued a second warning to Pakistan within two weeks about the risk of cross-border flooding as relentless monsoon rains continue to cause deaths and destruction across both countries.

The alert was announced by Pakistan’s disaster management authority in the east on September 2.

An Indian government official said New Delhi conveyed the warning on “humanitarian grounds” through its high commission in Islamabad, bypassing the suspended Indus Waters Treaty. The message followed India’s release of water from swollen dams and rivers into low-lying border areas, which prompted Pakistan to begin mass evacuations late last month.

The two nuclear-armed neighbors narrowly avoided conflict in May, and direct exchanges of this kind remain rare amid ongoing tensions.

Floodwaters have already devastated communities in Kasur, Okara, Vehari, and Bahawalnagar districts of Pakistan’s Punjab province. The Punjab Disaster Management Authority confirmed that the Indian High Commission relayed the warning through Pakistan’s Ministry of Water Resources.

Officials in Pakistan’s Punjab province said more than one million people have been evacuated, and about 2.45 million have been affected by this season’s monsoon flooding.

Northern India continues to reel from torrential rains. At least 10 people were reported dead in the past 24 hours, forcing the closure of schools and offices in several districts. In Punjab state, where more than 30 million people live, landslides and floods claimed at least 29 lives last month, with the military and disaster response teams evacuating thousands from submerged homes.

On September 2, the Yamuna River in New Delhi rose above the danger mark, triggering fears of flooding in low-lying areas of the capital. Heavy rainfall also inundated parts of Gurugram, on the city’s outskirts, causing severe traffic jams and widespread waterlogging in residential neighborhoods.