Pakistan accuses India of choking Chenab river flow

Pakistan alleged that India has almost entirely stopped the flow of water across the border through the Chenab River as fears of a clash between the two neighbours mount following a deadly attack in Kashmir.

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Since Sunday morning, the water flow has been throttled by almost 90% of the usual volume that passes to Pakistan, according to Muhammad Khalid Idrees Rana, spokesman for Pakistan's Indus River System Authority. The nation had anticipated water supplies to farms would be short by a fifth for the next two months even before this curtailment, he said.

“It’s unprecedented,” Mr Rana said, adding that India typically holds some water daily for electricity generation but releases it every few hours.

The alleged choking of the river follows India’s suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty, a bilateral pact more than six decades old, in retaliation for the killing of 26 people in the disputed region of Kashmir last month.