Heavier than usual rains and sudden cloudbursts during this monsoon season kill more than 300 people in recent days.

Across Pakistan, monsoon rains that began in late June have been heavier than usual, killing at least 645 people. Four hundred of those deaths were in the northwest alone, where narrow valleys and river-carved gorges funnel rainwater into sudden torrents.

More than 200 people remain missing in one district of north-west Pakistan as a result of devastating monsoon flooding and landslides, an official has said. Flash floods have killed more than 300 people in Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir in recent days, with most of the deaths recorded in the mountainous Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

Rescuers recovered dozens more bodies from the rubble of collapsed homes in a northwestern district of Pakistan, bringing the death toll to at least 274, as authorities defended their response to the flooding and said they did not need any foreign help at this point.

Cloudbursts are causing chaos in mountainous parts of India and Pakistan, with tremendous amounts of rain falling in a short period of time over a concentrated area.

Reasserting Islamabad’s long-standing stance on Kashmir, Dar added, “The Kashmir cause remains just, the rights of the Kashmiri people inalienable, and Pakistan's support for their struggle unshakable until justice prevails. As we commemorate this day, let us renew our dedication to a stronger, more secure, and prosperous Pakistan.”

Here’s what to know about the history of tensions. 1947 - Partition and independence from the British Empire Clashes over Kashmir between India and Pakistan are as old as the countries themselves.