Pakistan on Thursday noted with concern the variation in the flow of the Chenab River, saying that a letter had been written to India seeking clarification on the matter.

In a weekly press briefing, Foreign Office (FO) Tahir Hussain Andrabi talked about the “abrupt variation” in the flow of the Chenab River, noting that it had been in the news in the past week.

“Pakistan views these variations with extreme concern and seriousness. They allude to unilateral release of water into Chenab River by India, without any prior notification or data, and information sharing with Pakistan has also been none,” he said.

“Our Indus water commissioner has written a letter to his Indian counterpart seeking clarification on the matters in accordance with the procedures enshrined in the Indus Waters Treaty,” he said.

“Any manipulation of river flow by India, especially at a critical time of our agricultural cycle, directly threatens the life and livelihood as well as food and economic security of our citizens,” he said.

“We call upon India to respond to the queries raised by the Pakistani Indus water commissioner, refrain from any unilateral manipulation of river flow and fulfil its obligations in letter and spirit under the Indus Water Treaty provisions,” he said.

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