This monsoon season has laid bare how politics is seeping into the riverbanks, eroding one of South Asia’s most enduring mechanisms of cooperation at a time when the region needs it most.

After all, New Delhi has used the devastating floods sweeping across northern India and Pakistan to reassert its unilateral suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT), while trying to present its ‘limited alerts’ as gestures of concern.

This monsoon, India issued flood alerts concerning the Tawi and Sutlej rivers. But instead of using the Permanent Indus Commission (PIC), the notifications were sent via the Indian High Commission in Islamabad.

These alerts were skeletal, often containing little more than a “high flood” classification, leaving Pakistani authorities to guess at the discharge volumes and timings.

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