Following a deadly attack on tourists in Kashmir, India announced measures on Wednesday to scale back its relationship with Pakistan. The attack, which occurred the previous day, resulted in the deaths of 26 people and marked the most significant assault on civilians in nearly two decades.
An official stated at a media briefing that the security cabinet determined the attack had cross-border connections. Consequently, India decided to take action against Pakistan.
New Delhi will immediately suspend a vital river water treaty that governs the sharing of waters from the Indus river system between the two nations.
The Pakistani high commission’s defense advisors in New Delhi have been declared persona non grata and ordered to leave the country. Furthermore, the Indian high commission in Islamabad will be reduced from 55 to 30 members.
The primary border crossing between the two countries will be closed immediately, and Pakistani citizens will no longer be permitted to travel to India using special visas.
The shooting, which occurred in the Baisaran valley of the Pahalgam area in Jammu and Kashmir, also left at least 17 people injured. Among the deceased were 25 Indian nationals and one Nepalese national, according to police reports.
This was the deadliest attack on civilians since the 2008 Mumbai shootings and disrupted the recent period of relative calm in Kashmir, where tourism has thrived due to the decline of an anti-India insurgency.
A relatively unknown militant group called “Kashmir Resistance” claimed responsibility for the attack via a social media post. The group expressed dissatisfaction with the settlement of over 85,000 “outsiders” in the region, which they claim is causing a “demographic change.”
Indian security agencies assert that Kashmir Resistance, also known as The Resistance Front, serves as a front for Pakistan-based militant organizations such as Lashkar-e-Taiba and Hizbul Mujahideen.
Pakistan denies any involvement in militant violence in Kashmir, stating that it only provides moral, political, and diplomatic support to the insurgency.
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