Speaking on Geo News programme ‘Capital Talk’, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said that it was possible that India’s opening the spillways of its dams contributed to the flooding.

“Nobody could have stopped that amount of water,” he said. “However, we know their intentions towards us; it is possible that they kept some water stopped up and then released it to cause us damage.”

Citing an NDMA warning, the defence minister said that there was a lot of water passing through the Qadirabad headworks. He noted that since it was not raining, the water passing through the rivers was coming from occupied Kashmir.

“The rivers that enter Sialkot and Narowal have sources in occupied Kashmir,” Asif explained. “Nature has a role to play, but we cannot rule out India’s ill intentions.”