Modi vows to punish Kashmir attackers as India closes land border with Pakistan
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi vowed on Thursday to hunt down, track and punish terrorists and their supporters to respond heavily to the deadly armed attack on Kashmir tourists, where police identified two gunmen as Pakistan.
In a speech in Bihar, eastern India, Modi prays to commemorate 26 people
Shooting was launched in Pahargham area of Kashmir, India, and thousands of venues were advised to do the same.
“We will pursue them to the end of the earth,” Modi said. The attackers Modi refers to do not need to mention their identities or name Pakistan.
However, his comments will inevitably further incite links between nuclear weapons competitors, as India suspended six decades of water treaty after relegated ties with Pakistan on Wednesday night and closed the only land border between neighbors.
Pakistan’s electricity minister Awais Lekhari said the moratorium on the Indian Waters Treaty “an act of water war; a timid illegal act”.
The two countries announced other measures on Thursday.
India said that as of Sunday, all visas issued to Pakistani nationals will be revoked, adding that all Pakistan currently in India must leave before the visa expires according to the revised schedule. Foreign Minister Vikram Misri said New Delhi will also withdraw its defense adviser in Pakistan and reduce its staff in Islamabad from 55 to 30.
In retaliation, Pakistan closed airspace for all Indian-owned or Indian-operated airlines and suspended all trade with India, including traveling to and from any third country.
Embassy protests
Indian-managed Kashmir police issued a notice on Thursday, naming three suspected militants who were “involved” the attack and announced rewards for information that led to the arrest.
The notice said two of the three suspicious militants were Pakistani nationals. They didn’t say how these people agreed.
India and Pakistan control various parts of Kashmir and are fully claimed.
Misri said on Wednesday that the Cabinet Security Committee introduced the cross-border links of the attack, the country’s worst civilian in nearly two decades. Misri did not provide any proof of contact or provide further details.
Dozens of protesters gathered outside the Pakistani embassy in the diplomatic enclave of New Delhi on Thursday, shouting slogans and pushing police barricades.
Pakistani officials meet
In Islamabad, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif plans to hold a National Security Council meeting to discuss Pakistan’s response.
The Indus Treaty, introduced by the World Bank and signed in 1960, stipulates the sharing of the Indus and its tributaries between India and Pakistan. Since then, it has endured two wars between neighbors, and at other times it has serious connections.
Diplomatic relations between the two countries were weak even before the latest measures were announced as Pakistan expelled Indian envoys, and did not issue its own ambassador in New Delhi after India revoked Kashmir’s semi-autonomous status in 2019.
Tuesday’s attack was seen as a setback to Modi and his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata party, an important achievement in revoking Jamu and Kashmir State’s special status and bringing peace and development into the longer Muslim Muslim-Mov Mountains.
When suspected militants opened fire on tourists in India’s Jamu and Kashmir territory, 26 people were killed and 17 were injured, the country’s worst attack in nearly two decades.
India often accuses Islamic Pakistan of participating in the Kashmir rebellion, but Islamabad said it would only provide diplomatic and moral support for the need for self-determination.
Since the uprising in 1989, thousands of people have been killed in Kashmir, but in recent years, the tourism industry has surged in scenic areas.
