India downgrades ties with Pakistan after attack on Kashmir tourists kills 26

India moved swiftly to scale back its diplomatic ties with Pakistan on Wednesday, a day after a deadly militant attack in Kashmir killed 26 tourists, marking the country’s worst civilian massacre in nearly 20 years and escalating tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbors.

India unveiled a series of measures on Wednesday to downgrade its already strained relationship with Pakistan, following a deadly militant attack that left 26 people dead at a tourist hotspot in Kashmir—the country’s worst civilian attack in nearly 20 years.

Tensions between the two nuclear-armed neighbors were already heightened prior to the announcement. Diplomatic ties have been minimal since 2019, when India revoked Kashmir’s special constitutional status. In response, Pakistan expelled India’s envoy, refrained from appointing its own ambassador to New Delhi, suspended cross-border train services, and banned Indian films.

The attack on Tuesday has been widely viewed as a blow to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party’s narrative that ending Jammu and Kashmir’s autonomy brought peace and progress to the volatile, Muslim-majority region.

Speaking at a press conference, Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said the government concluded there was cross-border involvement in the assault, a determination reached during a high-level security cabinet meeting. That assessment, he said, led to the decision to take action against Pakistan.

Tags

News Politics India