Indian and Pakistani troopers briefly exchanged fireplace alongside their extremely militarized frontier within the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir, Indian officers stated Friday, as tensions soared between the nuclear-armed rivals following a lethal assault on vacationers.
India has described the bloodbath through which gunmen killed 26 individuals, most of them Indian, as a “terror assault” and accused Pakistan of backing it. Pakistan denied any connection to the assault close to the resort city of Pahalgam in India-controlled Kashmir. It was claimed by a beforehand unknown militant group calling itself the Kashmir Resistance.
With the area on edge, three Indian military officers stated that Pakistani troopers fired at an Indian place in Kashmir late Thursday. The officers, who spoke on situation of anonymity in line with departmental coverage, stated Indian troopers retaliated and no casualties have been reported.
Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs declined to touch upon the report.
Tensions rise
Tuesday’s assault in Kashmir was the worst assault in years focusing on civilians within the restive area. Since then, tensions have risen dangerously between India and Pakistan, which have fought two of their three wars over Kashmir, which is cut up between them and claimed by each in its entirety.
On Wednesday, India suspended a vital water-sharing treaty that has withstood two wars between the international locations and closed their solely useful land border crossing. A day later, India revoked all visas issued to Pakistani nationals with impact from Sunday.
Pakistan responded angrily that it has nothing to do with the assault, and canceled visas issued to Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or Indian-operated airways and suspended all commerce with India. Nationals from each side started heading again to their residence international locations by means of the Wagah border close to Pakistan’s japanese metropolis of Lahore on Friday.
Islamabad additionally warned that any Indian try to cease or divert the circulation of water could be thought of an “act of battle.” The suspension of the water treaty might result in water shortages at a time when elements of Pakistan are already combating drought and declining rainfall.
Pakistan has additionally warned it might droop the Simla Settlement — in what could be a significant and worrying step. The peace treaty signed after the 1971 India-Pakistan battle established the Line of Management, a extremely militarized de facto border that divides Kashmir between the international locations.
The United Nations has urged India and Pakistan “to train most restraint and to make sure that the state of affairs and the developments we’ve seen don’t deteriorate any additional.”
Kashmiri villager ladies grieve as they sit outdoors the blown-up household residence of Asif Shiekh, a militant who officers say is concerned within the lethal assault on vacationers in Pahalgam, at Monghama village in Tral, south of Srinagar, Indian-controlled Kashmir, Friday, April 25, 2025. (AP Photograph/Dar Yasin)
“Any points between Pakistan and India, we consider might be and needs to be resolved peacefully, by means of significant, mutual engagement,” the assertion stated Friday.
India and Pakistan every administer part of Kashmir. New Delhi describes all militancy there as Pakistan-backed terrorism. Pakistan denies this, and plenty of Muslim Kashmiris take into account the militants to be a part of a home-grown freedom wrestle.
Residents and police in southern Kashmir stated Indian troopers detonated explosives within the household properties of two suspected militants they accused of being concerned in Tuesday’s assault. Prior to now, Indian troops have demolished properties as a approach to punish militancy in Kashmir.
Authorities say they’re investigating two native males and two Pakistani nationals for his or her alleged involvement within the assault. Officers haven’t elaborated or shared any proof.
“He left residence three years in the past. We haven’t seen him since and nothing was ever recovered from this home regardless of a number of raids,” stated Afroza, the aunt of one of many native males accused, Asif Sheikh. The blast partially broken the home in Monghama village that she shares with Sheikh’s dad and mom and two sisters, together with blowing out its home windows. It additionally shattered windowpanes of a number of different properties.
“Even when he had completed the assault, why blow up the home of a poor household,” Afroza, who like many ladies in Kashmir makes use of just one identify, stated as she wailed.
A police official and two residents in Guree village stated a home there was additionally focused by troopers. The official insisted on anonymity as a result of he was not licensed to talk with media whereas the 2 villagers feared reprisals from authorities.
Protesters take to the streets
Additionally Friday, tons of of individuals rallied in Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan-administered Kashmir, to denounce the suspension of the water-sharing treaty.
The demonstrators chanted slogans in opposition to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and burned his effigy earlier than dispersing peacefully. Comparable small rallies have been additionally held elsewhere.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Pakistan’s Senate condemned the assault, whereas passing a decision denouncing New Delhi’s try to hyperlink Islamabad to it and the suspension of the water treaty.
A whole lot of demonstrators additionally took to streets in India’s capital of New Delhi, the place most markets have been shut in protest in opposition to the killings. They demanded motion in opposition to Pakistan.
“Now our endurance has run out,” protester Surekha Sharma stated. “Now we would like revenge for this.”
Source link