Pahalgam attack: India and Pakistan again on the edge of the conflict

New Delhi (AP) – A Landy attack on tourists In cashmere controlled by India, once again brought India and Pakistan closer to war while the two rivals downgraded diplomatic and commercial links, closed the main border crossing and revoked visas for nationals of the other.

Pakistan denied that it was behind Tuesday attack This killed 26 mainly Indian tourists in a panoramic place in the Himalayas region, where India said that it had restored a feeling of calm despite A decade rebellion. An unknown militant group called the resistance of the cashmere claimed the responsibility of the attack.

India and Pakistan fought two of their three wars on cashmere, which is divided between them and claimed by the two in its entirety. Here is what you need to know about climbing tensions between the two nuclear rivals.

What is at the heart of the dispute?

Links between India and Pakistan have been shaped by conflicts, aggressive diplomacy and mutual suspicion, More particularly in their competing claims on the superb Himalayan region of Kashmir.

The armed insurgents in cashmere have resisted New Delhi for decades, many Muslim cashmiris supporting the objective of union rebels the territory under Pakistani domination, as as an independent country. India accuses Pakistan of having fomented violence, an accusation rejected by Islamabad. Tens of thousands of civilians, rebels and government forces have been killed in the conflict over the years.

How did Pakistan respond to India’s reprisals?

On Tuesday, armed men fatally killed 26 people, mainly Indian tourists, in an attack near the picturesque city of Pahalgam. New Delhi immediately linked Pakistan to the attack, although it has not publicly produced any evidence.

India has announced a series of punitive measures. He demoted diplomatic ties, suspended a crucial water sharing treaty and revoked all the visas delivered to Pakistani nationals. India has also said that it would reduce its staff in its high-commissariat in Pakistan and reduced the number of Pakistani diplomats to New Delhi to 30 from 55 from May 1.

Pakistan qualified the actions of “irresponsible” India and canceled visas for Indian nationals, suspended all trade with India, including via third countries and closed its airspace to Indian planes.

Islamabad warns that the water dispute could lead to war

India’s decision to suspend the water treaty could potentially mark a major turning point in the way the two neighbors manage an essential shared resource between them. Pakistan warned Thursday that any Indian attempt to stop or divert the water flow between them would be considered an “act of war”.

The Industry Water Treaty, negotiated by the World Bank in 1960, allows you to share the waters of a river system which is a rescue buoy for the two countries. The treaty survived two wars between countries in 1965 and 1971, and a major border skirmish in 1999.

It governs the sharing of the water supply of the Industry river system and its distributors. Under the treaty, India has control of the eastern rivers of Ravi, Sutlej and Beas, and Pakistan controls the Western rivers of Jhelum, Chenab and Industs which follow the Kashmir region.

Pakistan said the treaty was binding and contained any unilateral suspension provision.

Pakistan described it as a “vital national interest”. The treaty is essential to support agriculture and hydroelectricity in the country with 240 million people. Hanging it could cause water shortages at a time when certain parts of Pakistan are already struggling with drought and the drop in precipitation.

Pakistan warns that it could suspend a peace treaty

Islamabad, on the other hand, warned that she could suspend the Simla agreement, an important peace treaty signed after the 1971 Indian-Pakistani war which ended with Bangladesh separating from Pakistan.

Under the agreement, India and Pakistan created the control line, previously called the ceasefire line, a highly militarized de facto border which divides the disputed cashmere between countries. They also undertook to settle their differences through bilateral negotiations.

Militant attacks reduce peace efforts

Despite largely tense relations, the neighbors have made intermittently for peace. However, regular border thrusts and multiple militant attacks in cashmere and India have spoiled the peace openings while New Delhi took a position in Islamabad, accusing him of “terrorism”.

In 1999, rebels supported by Pakistan and Pakistani soldiers seized Indian military posts in the icy summits of the Kargil region. Indian troops responded and a 10 -week conflict killed at least 1,000 fighters on both sides. The fighting stopped after an American intervention.

In 2008, a group of strongly armed assays of the Lashkar-E-Taiba militant group based in Pakistan was unleashed in the Indian financial capital Mumbai, killing 166 people. New Delhi blamed Pakistan’s intelligence service for assault, an accusation refused by Islamabad.

In 2019, a suicide car bombing killed 40 Indian soldiers in cashmere and brought the countries of war closer. In response, India said that his Air Force had struck a militant training camp inside Pakistan. Pakistan responded by air raids, shot down an Indian military plane and captured an Indian pilot, which was then released.

Months later, the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi The semi-autonomous status of cashmere revoked and imposed radical security measures. Since then, India has kept order in the region with a huge presence in terms of security and has radically slowed down dissent, civil freedoms and media freedoms.

Concern of the nuclear confrontation

India and Pakistan have built their armies and nuclear arsenals over the years. India was the first to carry out a nuclear test in 1974, followed by another in 1998. Pakistan followed with its own nuclear trials a few weeks later. The parties have since armed hundreds of nuclear warheads, missile delivery systems, advanced hunting jets and modern weapons to take themselves.