Mehbooba Mufti hails India’s flood alert to Pak, says it’s a step towards resolving Kashmir issue

PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti hailed India’s flood alert to Pakistan over the Tawi river, terming it a humanitarian gesture and urging New Delhi to “play the elder brother” role, while adding that such outreach could help address the Jammu & Kashmir issue.

Mufti told a news agency, “Not so many people died due to terrorism as have now died in the floods. Mufti Sahib used to say that our country should play the role of an elder brother… It is not just about informing them, but efforts should be made… Let us try to reach out. I feel this can be an attempt to resolve the Jammu and Kashmir issue.”

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Amid strained ties with Pakistan, India had extended a goodwill gesture on August 25, 2025, by apprising Islamabad about the flood situation in the Tawi River.

The alert was shared through the Indian High Commission in Islamabad, as the usual communication channel under the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) remains suspended. Acting on the information, Pakistani authorities issued flood warnings, the statement noted.

This marked the first time New Delhi conveyed such information via its diplomatic mission instead of the treaty’s institutional mechanism between the Indus Water Commissioners.

In the aftermath of the Pahalgam massacre of Hindu tourists, India had announced that the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty, brokered by the World Bank, would be kept in abeyance.

Earlier in August, Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had warned India, stating that Pakistan would teach it a lesson it will never forget, if India attempted to stop the flow of water into Pakistan in violation of the Indus Water Treaty.

Pakistani leaders Asim Munir and Shehbaz Sharif had threatened India in the month August 2025 with nuclear action on several occasions , if it attempted to alter the flow of the Indus river or block water through the Indus water channels to Pakistan.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Independence Day, 2025, had said that the country is ready to give a befitting reply to the nuclear blackmail issued by Pakistan on several occasions recently. While addressing the nation from the ramparts of the Red Fort, he stated that Pakistan’s nuclear threats will “no longer be tolerated.”

He had criticized the water-sharing agreement under the Indus Water Treaty, calling it “unjust” and “one-sided.”