Content area
Full Text
India has suspended a critical water treaty with Pakistan, closed its borders and vowed “loud and clear” retaliation for the murder of 26 people in a terror attack in Kashmir that threatens to unravel a fragile four-year ceasefire between the nuclear-armed neighbours and ignite a devastating water war.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi cut short a visit to Saudi Arabia to chair an emergency cabinet-level security meeting in the wake of the deadliest terror strike on Indian civilians in two decades, for which little-known Kashmiri militant group The Resistance Front has now claimed responsibility.
“Those behind this heinous act will be brought to justice … they will not be spared!” Mr Modi wrote on X.
The gunmen emerged from thick forest and opened fire with automatic weapons on Indian tourists admiring wildflowers in the Baisaram Meadow, a popular tourist attraction in Kashmir’s prized Pahalgam region.
One by one the victims – all men and all but one of them Indian – were picked off by the militants. Some were asked their religion and challenged to recite the Kalma – the Muslim declaration of faith – before being shot at point-blank range when it became clear they could not, witnesses said.
“Those responsible and behind such an act will very soon hear our response, loud and clear,” Defence Minister Rajnath Singh vowed...