India Cuts Off the Chenab River’s Water Flow to Pakistan
People cross the Chenab River on foot. May 5, 2025. X/ @KhajuriaManu
May 5, 2025 Hour: 8:44 am
The Pakistani government has warned that any reduction in the river’s flow would be interpreted as ‘an act of war.’
On Monday, the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation of India (NHPC) temporarily cut the flow of water from the Chenab River, which runs into Pakistan. This cut is part of maintenance operations that began over the weekend at a dam that regulates the river’s course in the Ramban district of Indian-administered Kashmir.
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These activities will soon take place at another dam in the Bandipora district, which controls the flow of another river that also flows into Pakistan. However, NHPC officials stated that these are “routine operations.”
This decision comes amid escalating tensions between India and Pakistan, which began two weeks ago following a terrorist attack in Indian Kashmir that killed 26 people. India holds Pakistan responsible for the attack.
The Kashmir region has been the focus of several wars since India and Pakistan gained independence from the British Empire in 1947. Amid the current diplomatic crisis, India has suspended the Indus Waters Treaty, signed in 1960, which governs the sharing of several cross-border rivers. Considered a deal favorable to Pakistan, the treaty had withstood previous conflicts between the two nations.
The suspension of this agreement prompted a harsh response from the Pakistani government, which stated that any reduction in the amount of water allocated to its nation would be considered an act of war.
Promoted by the World Bank, the Indus Waters Treaty allocates the three western rivers of the Indus system to Pakistan, while India retains rights over the eastern rivers. The two dams affected by the maintenance work have been a source of diplomatic friction.
Pakistan has previously challenged the design of one of the dams in international arbitration and has raised legal objections against the other, citing concerns about downstream flow to the Neelum River, a vital water source in Pakistan-administered Kashmir.
teleSUR/ JF
Source: EFE
