NEW DELHI, April 24 (Alliance News): Tensions between India and Pakistan have sharply escalated after New Delhi suspended the Indus Water Treaty, shut down the only land border crossing, and reduced diplomatic presence following a deadly attack that killed 26 tourists in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK).
Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri on Wednesday announced a series of punitive measures, accusing Pakistan of cross-border involvement in the assault that took place in Baisaran near Pahalgam in the Anantnag district — the worst civilian attack in the region in nearly 20 years.
Among the steps taken, India has declared Pakistani defence advisers in New Delhi as persona non grata, giving them one week to leave the country. Simultaneously, India will withdraw its own defence attaches from Islamabad and downsize its mission staff from 55 to 30. The Integrated Check Post at Attari, the only land crossing between the two neighbours, has also been closed.
Misri stated that India would hold the Indus Water Treaty, brokered by the World Bank in 1960, “in abeyance.” The agreement had historically withstood multiple wars and periods of high tension between the two countries.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has convened an all-party meeting to brief opposition leaders on the government’s firm stance following the attack. In his address a day earlier, Modi vowed to hunt down those responsible, promising a response “beyond imagination.”
Meanwhile, in Islamabad, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has summoned a meeting of the National Security Committee (NSC), as confirmed by Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, to discuss internal and external security concerns and craft Pakistan’s official response.
Relations between the two countries had already been strained since India revoked the special constitutional status of IIOJK in 2019, prompting Pakistan to expel the Indian envoy and leave its own ambassadorial post in New Delhi vacant.
The recent attack also raises questions about the Modi government’s narrative of peace and progress in the region since the abrogation of Article 370.
