WEBDESK: The floodgates of the Salal Dam on the Chenab River in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir’s (IIOJK) Reasi district have been opened due to a significant rise in water levels following days of heavy rainfall.
According to independent findings by Azaad Research, the opening of the dam gates directly exposes the hollow claims made by the Indian government about controlling the flow of Chenab’s waters or suspending the Indus Waters Treaty.
Far from being a bold geopolitical move, it was merely a shallow political gimmick aimed at appeasing India’s hardline saffron brigade.
Research indicates that this declaration by Prime Minister Narendra Modi was less a strategic policy and more a desperate political stunt, unleashed at a time when his government was struggling on both diplomatic and military fronts.
India had recently suffered humiliating setbacks, from the Galwan Valley clash with China in 2019 to the more recent blows dealt by Pakistan during Operation Swift Retort (2019) and Operation Banyan-um-Marsoos (2024).
Experts argue that India neither possesses the infrastructure, nor the technical or administrative capacity to block Pakistan’s water under the treaty.
The only real casualty of this false narrative has been India’s own credibility.
Just a day ago, the Permanent Court of Arbitration ruled India’s unilateral actions illegal, delivering a blow to what remained of New Delhi’s international standing.
This verdict once again reaffirmed Pakistan’s legal position and left India diplomatically cornered.
What is more, the grand standing by Modi to Salal dam gates went awry in a great way.
The consequences of water mismanagement became apparent when heavy rainfall in New Delhi, linked to upstream flooding from Himachal Pradesh and IIOJK, led to severe urban disruption, after poor management, flooding has devastated the region, which proves India is unable to cope with its own water resources, let alone use them as weapons.
#WATCH | J&K | The gates of the Salal Dam, located on the Chenab River in the Reasi district, have been opened due to rise in water level following heavy rainfall in the region. pic.twitter.com/H1fweqPuiF
— ANI (@ANI) June 29, 2025
The episode is another addition to the history of failed optics by the Modi government when efficiency is traded in with masquerade; political dramas are prioritized over external duty and domestic security.
Read more: Modi’s radio show “Mann Ki Baat”: Public broadcast or political propaganda?
