India has closed its main land border crossing point with Pakistan after suspected militants killed 26 men at a tourist destination in Kashmir.
Vikram Misri, India’s foreign secretary, announced several moves on Wednesday to downgrade diplomatic ties between the nuclear-armed South Asian neighbours after claiming the attack had “cross-border” links to Pakistan.
The spray of gunfire at tourists on Tuesday in the Baisaran Valley was the worst assault in years targeting civilians in the region that is claimed by both countries. The gunmen also wounded 17 other people.
With no direct flights operating between the two countries, the move severs all transport links between them.
India describes militancy in Kashmir as Pakistan-backed terrorism. Pakistan denies this, and many Muslim Kashmiris consider the militants to be part of a home-grown freedom struggle.
Mr Misri also said that New Delhi would immediately suspend the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty “until Pakistan credibly and irrevocably abjures its support for cross-border terrorism”.
The treaty split the Indus River and its tributaries between the neighbours and regulated the sharing of water.
Pakistan is heavily dependent on water flowing downstream from this river system from Indian Kashmir for its hydropower and irrigation needs. Suspending the treaty would allow India to deny Pakistan its share of the waters.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has called a meeting of the National Security Committee on Thursday morning to respond to the Indian government’s statement, Pakistan's Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar posted on X.
A little-known militant group, named the Kashmir Resistance, claimed responsibility for the attack in a social media message.
They expressed discontent that more than 85,000 "outsiders" had been settled in the region, spurring what they called a "demographic change".
Indian security officials claim that the Kashmir Resistance is a front for Pakistan-based militant organisations such as Lashkar-e-Taiba and Hizbul Mujahideen - but Pakistan denies accusations that it supports militant violence in Kashmir.
"We are concerned at the loss of tourists’ lives," Pakistani foreign ministry spokesperson Shafqat Ali Khan said in a statement earlier on Wednesday.
"We extend our condolences to the near ones of the deceased and wish the injured a speedy recovery."
