1. There are allegations being made in the print and electronic media of India being responsible for floods in Pakistan through release of excessive quantities of water from its dams upstream.  There have also been claims of India waging a “water war”.  All such assertions are false, misplaced and bear no relation whatsoever to the reality on the ground. 

2. The facts are as follows: 

(a)The Indus Waters Treaty 1960 was signed by India and Pakistan under the aegis of the World Bank.  The Treaty allocated the waters of three Eastern Rivers of the Indus basin namely the Ravi, Beas and Sutlej to India and the waters of three Western Rivers of the basin namely the Indus, Jhelum and Chenab to Pakistan.

The Treaty permits India to use the waters of Western Rivers for

(i) Domestic Use;

(ii) Non-Consumptive Use;

(iii) Agricultural Use, as set out in Annexure C of the Treaty; and

(iv) Generation of hydro-electric power, as set out in Annexure D of the Treaty. 

(b)In addition to the above, India can build storage projects on the Western Rivers to create storages upto 3.6 million acre feet (MAF) for general, power and flood protection purposes subject to criteria as defined in the Treaty.  No storage project has been constructed so far. 

(c)Out of the assessed potential of about 18653 MW of hydropower on the Western Rivers, at present Hydro-Electric projects (HEP) with installed capacity of about 2666 MW are in operation and projects with envisaged installed capacity of about 2986 MW are under construction.  All these projects are Run of River (RoR) projects with insignificant pondage for day to day operation except only one project namely Pakal Dul project which envisages 0.09 MAF storage which is under construction.  The projects are taken up by India as per provisions of the Treaty. 

(d)MISINFORMATION IN PAKISTAN ABOUT RECENT FLOODS 

(i) During the first week of September, 2014 there was heavy rainfall in Chenab and Jhelum basins and the data on this is available in public domain. The rainfall was about 300% above normal at Srinagar and matching excess rainfall was experienced all across both the Chenab and Jhelum basins. Chenab basin has very steep slopes and the river derives its flashy nature from the same. Rapid velocities of waters has caused significant damages to infrastructures as well as loss of lives in India.  Jhelum has caused havoc in the state of Jammu & Kashmir and Srinagar city has also been affected badly.  More than 10 Lakh people have been affected in J&K.  The flows received in Pakistan are the same as passed through Indian territory which were of high magnitude due to intense rainfall. 

(ii)     On the Western rivers, India has only following hydro projects in operation having installed capacity of more than 100 MW: 

 These run of the river projects have a small pondage for day to day operation which is insignificant in comparison to the inflow which are received during monsoon season. The Salal project is having a small pond just adequate to divert flowing waters into its intakes. The pondage of Baglihar Project is only 32.56 MCM, which is very small compared to the daily inflow of more than 1000 MCM received there during the 4th to 5th September and more than 800 MCM during 6th  to 7th  September 2014 due to widespread rains in the catchment.  Dams on Western Rivers like Baglihar only have small pondage capacity which is filled in a matter of few hours with floods of this magnitude and therefore, gates of these dams have to remain open during flood seasons to pass the discharges which are of high order. Therefore, the question of flooding arising from small pondage of Baglihar project as has reported in Pakistan media does not arise.  Further, media reports in Pakistan that India is constructing the 3rd largest dam of world in Kargil after the completion of which the whole of Pakistan would be affected are totally false.  India is not constructing any such dam in Kargil.  Further all projects are taken up by India only as per provisions of the Indus Waters Treaty. 

(iii)  Both India and Pakistan are vulnerable during intense precipitation in the Himalayan region during extreme weather conditions. The allegations of waging a "water war" bear no relation whatsoever to the reality on the ground and are unwarranted. 

(e) Flood information has been supplied to Pakistan during the current Flood season.  As a gesture of goodwill, India establishes a 24 x 7 flood information cell between July 1 to October 10 every year to issue flood warnings to the office of Pakistan Commissioner for Indus Waters and also through the All India Radio to enable Pakistan to take timely action in this regard. This year also flood data of Chenab (at Akhnoor) and Tawi (at Jammu), Satluj (outflow from Bhakra, at Ropar, at Harike and Ferozepur downstream) and Ravi (outflow of Ranjit Sagar dam and at Madhopur downstream) are being supplied through phone to the office of the Pakistan Commissioner for Indus Waters as per agreed schedules.  The flood information was even collected by field offices in India uninterruptedly in spite of great threat to lives and assets during high floods in first week of September 2014 and was sent to Pakistan on hourly basis to keep the Pakistan authorities aware of the flood situation for taking advance action. 

(f) Keeping in view of above, the propaganda in sections of the Pakistan media that India has caused floods in Pakistan is totally baseless, devoid of any truth and mischievous.