The Indian army has engaged in a brief exchange of fire with Pakistani soldiers along their heavily militarized border in the Himalayan region of Kashmir, as tensions between the countries rise after the shooting of tourists in the resort town of Pahalgam.
This is reported by AP.
Indian army officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Pakistani troops used small arms to fire on Indian positions in Kashmir on the evening of April 24. Indian soldiers responded. There were no casualties.
Pakistan has not commented on the incident. India and Pakistan have previously accused each other of starting border clashes in Kashmir, a region claimed in full by both countries.
The UN called on India and Pakistan to "exercise maximum restraint and ensure that the situation and the developments we have seen do not deteriorate further".
A new round of conflict between the two nuclear-armed states began after gunmen killed 26 tourists near the resort town of Pahalgam in Kashmir. India called it a “terrorist attack” with “cross-border” links, accusing Pakistan of supporting the incident. Islamabad denies involvement in the attack. An unknown militant group, the “Kashmir Resistance”, claimed responsibility for the attack.
In the wake of the killing of the tourists, New Delhi suspended a key water-sharing agreement with Pakistan, closed the only land border crossing between the countries, reduced the number of diplomatic personnel, and canceled all visas issued to Pakistani citizens.
Pakistan then also canceled visas issued to Indian citizens, closed its airspace to all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India.
Pakistani authorities also warned that any Indian attempt to stop or redirect the flow of water would be considered an "act of war".
India and Pakistan are now on the brink of a new armed conflict that could have “unforeseen consequences”, experts interviewed by The New York Times say. A similar attack in 2019 brought them to the brink of war, but they did not go that route then. Now the escalation is on a larger scale, analysts say.
What preceded
The Himalayan region, which is claimed in full by both India and Pakistan but only partially controlled by both countries, has been wracked by violence since 1989 due to an armed insurgency against Indian rule. Tens of thousands of people have been killed in that time, although the level of violence has declined in recent years.
In 2019, India revoked the special status of Kashmir, splitting it into two centrally administered territories — Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. The changes also allowed people from other regions to be granted residency, allowing them to work and buy land in the area.
The government of Jammu and Kashmir state, where Pahalgam is located, told the state parliament this month that nearly 84 000 non-resident Indian citizens have been granted residency permits in the region in the past two years. The move by India has further strained relations with Pakistan, which also claims the region as its territory. The dispute has led to hostility and armed conflict between the two nuclear-armed states.
Indian security officials say that some of the most large-scale militant attacks during the active phase of the insurgency have occurred during visits by high-ranking officials from abroad — likely to draw world attention to the situation in Kashmir.
The attack on Tuesday, April 22, came the day after US Vice President J.D. Vance began a four-day, mostly private visit to India.
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