New Delhi: Pakistan’s defence minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif now knows who to blame for the floods in Pakistan. And no, not the country’s infrastructure or climate change; it is India. In a statement Wednesday, Asif said that “the floodwater flowing from India into Pakistan also carried dead bodies.”
Pakistanis are amused. One Pakistani user sarcastically remarked, “Make sure they are not RAW agents”. Another added, “What’s stopping him (Asif) from drowning?”.
He made these statements while visiting flood-hit areas in Sialkot. He noted that the presence of dead bodies, livestock, and piles of debris in the floodwaters had further hampered drainage efforts by municipal authorities. A Pakistani news portal, Dialogue Pakistan, said that commenting on the bodies floating in the rivers, Asif added that local people reported seeing corpses carried across the border. Asif pointed out that Sialkot lies on streams flowing from Jammu, and whenever water is released from there, the city experiences severe flooding.
Others came down hard on the minister. “Punjab was not allowed to build dams or even canals to handle floods by some of our own people due to their politics. Build Canals. Build Dams!” Facebook user Shazia Hussain wrote.
Another user, Ibtisham Siddiqui, too shared the same sentiment on Facebook: “Build dams don’t blame enemy.”
An angry Pakistani named Shahmeen Islam blamed the government for not taking development projects seriously and, in a long rant on Instagram, wrote, “The current leadership lacks long-term vision. Instead of tackling Pakistan’s real challenges, they remain busy with superficial projects like painting lanes green for cycling or offering free Wi-Fi.”
“The real work lies in building infrastructure that addresses critical needs—like dams and water management in the face of climate change. Yet, despite this, there are still people who blindly support PMLN, standing behind leaders who repeatedly fail to deliver anything meaningful decade after decade !!!!”
Also read: ‘Main narrative-maker’—Pakistani TV analyst gets medal for role during India standoff
Floods in Pakistan
In the last 15 years, Pakistan has faced destructive floods every single year, each one more disastrous than the last. Around 2,00,000 people have been displaced as severe floods sweep through Pakistan’s Punjab province, according to a BBC report.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, assured that the federal government would extend full support to provincial authorities in mitigating flood risks, particularly in urban centres such as Gujarat, Sialkot, and Lahore, the country’s second-largest city.
Sialkot recorded more rainfall in 24 hours on Wednesday than at any point in the past 49 years, according to Pakistan’s chief meteorologists, leaving streets, cars, homes, and entire buildings submerged. Many residents remain stranded, the federal planning minister told the BBC.
Disaster authorities said Wednesday’s flooding came after India warned of water releases from its upstream dams. Officials explained that when Indian reservoirs overflow, excess water is discharged, triggering heavy flooding downstream — now inundating large parts of Punjab.
India had shared flood data with Pakistan on Sunday through its High Commission in Islamabad in a formal letter.
This marked the first instance of India providing flood data to Pakistan since it unilaterally suspended the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) following the Pahalgam attack in April this year.
In response to the Indian alert, the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) of Pakistan’s Punjab province issued a flood warning, cautioning that rising waters in the Tawi River could impact water levels in Gujarat and Sialkot through the Chenab River. District administrations were instructed to activate flood monitoring systems, strengthen early warning mechanisms, and ensure a coordinated emergency response.
Asif also agreed that India had informed Pakistan twice before releasing water into the rivers.
According to a UN report, since late June, nearly 800 people, including over 200 children, have died in Pakistan’s floods, nearly three times last year’s toll. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has been the worst hit, with flash floods and landslides wiping out homes and schools, while Punjab faces rising waters in the Sutlej, Ravi, and Chenab rivers. In Gilgit-Baltistan, glacier lake outbursts have destroyed homes, power lines, and water systems, with experts warning that climate change is accelerating such disasters.
(Edited by Ratan Priya)