India and Pakistan have canceled the visas for nationals of the other while the diplomatic fracture between them widens after the mass shooting on Tuesday by activists in the disputed territory of the cashmere.
The Indian authorities have said that all the visas issued to Pakistani nationals will be revoked on Sunday, adding that all the Pakistanis currently in India must leave before the expiration of their visas according to the revised calendar.
The country has also announced other measures, including the reduction in the number of diplomatic staff members and the only functional land border passage between countries.
Islamabad also reacted angry after New Delhi suspended a water sharing treaty on Thursday and blamed Pakistan for the attack, which killed 26 people.
The Indus water Treaty survived two wars between countries in 1965 and 1971, and a major border skirmish in 1999.
The pact was negotiated by the World Bank in 1960 and made it possible to share the waters of a river system which is a rescue buoy for the two countries, in particular for agriculture in Pakistan.
Pakistan said that it had nothing to do with the attack and warned that any Indian attempt to stop or divert the flow of water would be considered as an “act of war” and encountered “full force through the full spectrum” of the national power of Pakistan.
In Islamabad and other cities in Pakistan, the demonstrators gathered against the suspension of India in the treaty, demanding that the government response.
Pakistan has closed its airspace for all airlines belonging to Indians and has suspended all trade with India, including towards and from any third country.
Tuesday's attack was the worst assault of years targeting civilians in the region carried out which has experienced an anti-Indian rebellion for more than three decades.
The rare attack, which mainly targeted tourists, shocked and indignant Indians, which caused calls to action against Pakistan.
The Indian government has not publicly produced any evidence of the involvement of the Pakistani state, but said that the attack had “cross -border” links with Pakistan.
The killings put pressure on the Hindu nationalist government of the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to answer aggressively.
“India will identify, follow and punish all the terrorists, their managers and their donors,” said Modi during a public rally on Thursday.
“We will pursue them to the ends of the earth.”
ADVERTISEMENTPakistan denied any link with the attack, which was claimed by an unknown militant group called the resistance to cashmere.
The Pakistan National Security Committee condemned India's “belligerent measures”.
He said that even if Pakistan has remained attached to peace, he would not allow anyone to “transgress his sovereignty, security, dignity and inalienable rights”.
Government ministers on both sides have suggested that the dispute could degenerate from military action.
ADVERTISEMENTThe Minister of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan, Ishaq Dar, told Dunya News Local Channel that “any kinetic stage of India will see a kinetic response of tit-tat”.
The Indian Minister of Defense, Rajnath Singh, is committed to “not only trace those who perpetrated the attack on Wednesday, but also trace those who conspired to commit this harmful act on our soil” and alluded to the possibility of military strikes.
India and Pakistan each administer part of the cashmere, but both claim the territory in its entirety.
New Delhi describes all activism in cashmere as terrorism supported by Pakistan; Pakistan denies this, and many Muslim cashmiris consider activists as part of a fight for local freedom.
ADVERTISEMENTModi canceled the status quo in cashmere in August 2019, when his government revoked the semi-autonomous status of the region and put it under direct federal control.
However, relations with Pakistan have remained stable because the two countries have renewed an earlier cease-fire agreement along their border in 2021, which was largely held despite militant attacks against Indian forces in the region.
