Pakistan has responded with tit-for-tat measures against India as tensions soared following a militant attack in Indian-administered Kashmir that killed 26 tourists.
Islamabad suspended all visas issued to Indian nationals under an exemption scheme with immediate effect, as well as expelling some of its neighbour’s diplomats and closing its airspace to Indian flights.
Indian police have named three of four suspected gunmen behind the attack, saying two are Pakistani citizens and a third is a local Kashmiri man. Pakistan denies Indian claims that it played a role in the shooting.
Tuesday’s attack saw a group of gunmen fire on tourists near Pahalgam, a resort in the disputed Himalayan region.
Police in Indian-administered Kashmir say all three suspects named are members of the Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). None of the men have commented on the allegations.
A statement from Pakistan’s National Security Committee rubbished attempts to link the Pahalgam attack to Pakistan, saying there had been no credible investigation or verifiable evidence.
Earlier Prime Minister Narendra Modi vowed that “India will identify, track and punish every terrorist and their backers and we will pursue them to the ends of the Earth.”
He said that the “terrorists behind the killings, along with their backers, will get a punishment bigger than they can imagine”.
“Our enemies have dared to attack the country’s soul… India’s spirit will never be broken by terrorism.”
On Wednesday evening Delhi announced a raft of diplomatic measures against Islamabad in light of the killings in Kashmir – one of them was shutting the Attari-Wagah border between the two countries immediately.
India also cancelled visa services to Pakistani nationals “with immediate effect”.
In its response, Pakistan also rejected India’s suspension of the Indus Water Treaty – a six-decade-old water sharing treaty between the neighbours – adding that any attempt to stop or divert the water “will be considered as an Act of War”.
The country has closed its airspace to all Indian-owned or Indian-operated airlines and suspended all trade with India.
It has also reduced the number of diplomats in the Indian High Commission in Islamabad to 30 and asked Indian defence, naval and air advisers to leave Pakistan before 30 April.
About 1,500 people across Kashmir have been detained for questioning in connection with the attack, police sources have told BBC News.
Schools, business and shops are reopening after a shutdown across the region following the shootings.
Police have offered a reward of 2m rupees [$23,000; £17,600] for anyone offering information about any of the attackers.
Visitors from different states in India were killed, with others seriously injured, in one of the deadliest attacks in recent years in the region.
An Indian naval officer on honeymoon, a tourist guide who was the sole breadwinner for his family, and a businessman holidaying with his wife and children were among the victims.
An all-party meeting in Jammu and Kashmir expressed deep shock and anguish at what it called a “barbaric attack”.
The bodies of victims arriving in their home states around India are being given emotional farewells by their families and loved ones.
Meanwhile, reports are coming in from parts of India of Kashmiri students facing harassment in the aftermath of the killings.
A spokesperson for Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s National Conference party said several videos showing students being harassed in colleges and other places were being circulated online.
Nasir Khuehami, head of the Jammu and Kashmir Students’ Association, shared a video of a right-wing Hindu group threatening to physically assault Kashmiri Muslim students in the northern state of Uttarakhand to ensure they leave.
The BBC has not been able to independently verify any of these clips.
By BBC News
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