India now trying to flood Lahore, alleges daily

ISLAMABAD - India has caused the devastating floods in Pakistan by releasing excess water into the Satluj and Beas rivers and now is trying to inundate Lahore by pumping more water in the Ravi, an editorial in a Pakistani paper said Saturday.

“There is clear proof of an Indian conspiracy in the current floods in Pakistan. Now it is releasing excess water into the Satluj and it is suspected that it is pumping more water into the Ravi with the aim of flooding Ravi and other parts of the Punjab,” the Nawa-i-Waqt Urdu daily said editorially.

The editorial accused India of “building dams on all rivers, streams and other channels flowing towards Pakistan in order to devastate the country by either depriving it of water or releasing extra water to cause floods”.

“India has built 62 dams in occupied Kashmir to fulfil its aim of turning Pakistan into a barren wasteland. But when it has too much water, it releases the excess towards Pakistan in order to cause floods,” it said.

Noting that Pakistan had decided to approach the International Court of Justice at The Hague against India’s building of the Baglihar and Kishenganga projects and depriving it of its due share of water, the daily said Pakistan should appoint a capable team of lawyers to fight its case, given the defeat it had earlier suffered at the World Bank.

“Now that the Pakistani government has decided to move the International Court of Justice as Indus Water Commissioner Syed Jamaat Ali Shah has indicated, we must appoint a capable team of lawyers to fight our case,” it said, adding the World Bank fiasco must not be repeated.

It urged the renowned Pakistani lawyers not to hesitate to come forward to take up the case, warning “non-Pakistani lawyers could not be trusted”.