A boat on the Indus River near the Lansdowne Bridge in Sukkur, in Pakistan’s Sindh province. — AFP ISLAMABAD, Dec 19 (AFP): Pakistan said on Friday it had detected "abrupt variations" of water flows on a river crucial to its farmers, accusing neighbouring India of releasing water without warning in defiance of a major treaty that New Delhi suspended this year.
India in April announced it was suspending the Indus Water Treaty in the lead up to armed conflict between the nuclear-armed neighbours and following a deadly militant attack in India-administered Kashmir that New Delhi blamed on Pakistan, which denied involvement.
Pakistan has said any attempt to stop or divert the flow of water into the country would be considered an "act of war".
Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar told foreign diplomats on Friday that Pakistan's water treaty commissioner had written a letter to his Indian counterpart over "unusual, abrupt variations" observed in the flow of the Chenab river from December 7-15, similar to changes detected in April and May.
"These variations in water flows are of extreme concern for Pakistan, as they point to unilateral release of water by India," he said, according to a ministry statement.
India's foreign ministry did not immediately respond to request for comment.
"India has released this water without any prior notifiation ... as required under the Treaty," Dar added, saying it represented a "weaponisation of water".
"India's manipulation of water, at a critical time of our agriculture cycle, directly threatens the lives and livelihoods, as well as food and economic security, of our citizens," Dar said in the speech to the international diplomatic corps in Islamabad.
"What we are witnessing now is material breaches by India that strike at the heart of the Indus Waters Treaty" signed in 1960, he added.
India suspended the treaty following a deadly attack on tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir on April 22 that killed 26 people.
New Delhi blamed Islamabad for backing the attack-which Islamabad denies-and said it was suspending the water treaty in response.
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