India’s sudden release of Jhelum water creates panic in PoK, Pakistan now plans to…

Islamabad: India has formally issued a notification giving effect to its decision to suspend the 1960 Indus Water Treaty with Pakistan. The notification was served to Pakistan on Thursday, a day after New Delhi announced suspending the treaty as part of retaliatory measures against Islamabad over the brazen terror attack in Pahalgam that killed 26 people. The government issued an official notification on holding the Indus Water Treaty in “abeyance”. However, there has been a sudden surge in the Jhelum river’s water level that thrown Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) into chaos. According to the local authorities, India released water from the Uri Dam without prior warning on Saturday.

The sudden discharge triggered a water emergency in PoK’s Hattian Bala district, forcing residents along the riverbanks to flee to safer ground.
The move escalated tensions between the two nuclear-armed neighbours, with Pakistani authorities condemning it as a violation of international norms and the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT). India suspended the IWT on April 23 citing the terror attack in Pahalgam in which 26 people were killed by terrorists.

Local officials in Muzaffarabad, the capital of PoK, and Chakoti issued urgent alerts via loudspeakers, urging residents to evacuate as water levels surged rapidly. “We had no warning. The water came rushing in, and we are struggling to save lives and property,” said Muhammad Asif, a resident of Dumel, a village located on the riverbank in PoK told the Times of India.

A district government official in Muzaffarabad issued a brief statement advising citizens to stay away from locations close to the Jhelum river. “Due to India releasing more water than usual into the Jhelum river, there is moderate flooding,” added the spokesperson.

Moderate flooding has been reported in low-lying regions of Kohala and Dhalkot, with unconfirmed reports of livestock losses and damage to crops.
The PoK government has accused India of intentional “water terrorism,” highlighting the lack of prior notification as a violation of the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT), a 1960 agreement facilitated by the World Bank to regulate the shared river waters. The treaty requires both countries to exchange information on water releases to prevent harm to downstream areas.

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