July 22, 2007	Sunday	Rajab 06, 1428

BAHAWALPUR, July 21: Standing crops in two villages were submerged with knee-deep water near Fort Abbas after Indian authorities diverted the floodwater of the river Ghaggar to Pakistani territory on Friday

According to reports reaching here on Saturday, the Indian authorities, after the recent torrential rain in Rajasthan, have diverted the flow of excess water towards the dried-up riverbed inside the Pakistani territory without prior intimation to Pakistani officials concerned.

The floodwater, now touching the protective embankments in the outskirts of Fort Abbas, has damaged the standing crops in Chak Nos 241/HR and 242/HR, causing a wave of apprehension among cultivators.

A sizeable portion of rural population is reported to have moved to higher locations to save them from the floodwater.

Fort Abbas Tehsil Nazim Haji Irfan Shaukat has been quoted as saying that the floodwater level has not so far touched the danger point.

He, however, said the situation could be worsened in the Fort Abbas tehsil if the heavy rain across the border continued and the Indian authorities released the overflow discharge to the Pakistani side of the river Ghaggar.

The Ghaggar is an abandoned river across the Indo-Pakistan border and Indian officials divert the floodwater towards the Pakistani territory almost every year during the monsoon season without prior information to their Pakistani counterparts.