The Times of Kashmir: The Pakistan-India War on Kashmir’s Civilian Mind, and the Kashmiris’ Importance of Respecting the Indian Constitution
Pakistan denies India’s accusations of sponsoring and stoking armed militancy in Kashmir. The Muslim-majority Kashmir region has been disputed between India and Pakistan since they became independent nations in 1947. Each country claims Kashmir in its entirety. They have fought three wars over it. Pakistan controls a smaller portion of the region, known as Azad Kashmir.
The group that claimed responsibility for the attack was referred to by India as Kashmir Resistance. India claims that the group is a front for a militant group backed by Pakistan’s military.
Tuesday’s attack on Indian civilians is being referred to as the worst since gunmen stormed the streets of Mumbai in 2008 and killed more than 160 people. The investigators claimed the attackers were trained in Pakistan.
Pakistan’s military advisers at the high commission in New Delhi have a week to leave India. Misri said that India would also be withdrawing from Islamabad. These decisions, he said, were made in a meeting chaired by India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who cut short a visit to Saudi Arabia to return to India following news of Tuesday’s attack.
Like him, Khaled cautions against further escalations. “India hasn’t said, we’re going to withdraw from the treaty. It’s only suspending it. And hence, I think there is room for both countries to approach this subject in a manner that is in line with the long history of cooperation.”
“Water is a Vital National Interest of Pakistan, a lifeline for its 240 million people and its availability will be safeguarded at all costs,” the statement read. “Any attempt to stop or divert the flow of water belonging to Pakistan as per the Indus Waters Treaty, and the usurpation of the rights of lower riparian will be considered as an Act of War and responded with full force across the complete spectrum of National Power.”
The day after an attack on tourists in Kashmir that killed 26 people, India shut a border with Pakistan and suspended a key water treaty.
It’s more like oppression and domination than engagement and support. He says the emotional distance between Kashmir and Delhi has gone up even further due to this type of politics.
Sushant Singh, a lecturer at Yale University and former Indian military officer, said that jingoism has overtaken security and political failures in the wake of the attacks.
India has not, so far, presented public evidence of Pakistani involvement in the attack. India’s right-wing news channels have blamed Pakistan and featured calls for retaliation. Some analysts in India caution against armed action.
In Tuesday’s attack, a little-known militant group called Kashmir Resistance claimed responsibility. In a post on Telegram, it said the attack was in retaliation for the “demographic changes” seen in the valley since 2019.
India Prime Minister Narendra Modi vowed to pursue those behind a militant attack in Kashmir that killed 26 people, which set off tensions between the two nuclear-armed powers in South Asia.
Modi said in English that India will identify, track and punish every terrorist and their backers.
Pakistan’s deputy prime minister and foreign minister Ishaq Dar denied Pakistani involvement in a press conference Thursday. “India has time and again played the blame game,” he said, “and if there is proof of Pakistan’s involvement, please share it with us and the world.”
Indian officials and media noted that the attack was committed just days after Pakistan’s army chief described Kashmir as his country’s “jugular vein”. Pakistan and India both control part of the Himalayan territory. Both countries have fought each other over Kashmir multiple times.
On Wednesday, India’s foreign secretary announced a series of moves to pressure Pakistan, including expelling diplomats, shuttering a border crossing and crucially, suspending a decades-old water treaty between the two countries.
Pakistan said it would consider any move by India to hold back water as an “act of war,” according to a statement released by the office of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
The “Wanted” poster of the Mumbai attack on Tuesday, March 13: India’s response to Pakistan’s attack and its implication for water flow
On Thursday, Kashmir police released a “Wanted” poster with the names and sketches of three criminals it claims were involved in Tuesday’s attack. It offered a cash reward of at least $200,000 for information leading to the neutralization of the two people identified as Pakistan nationals.
The Bollywood film starring Pakistani actor Fawad Khan was demanded to be ban by the union representing Indian film industry workers. The X handle of the Pakistan government was blocked by India.
Ajai Shukla, a retired Indian army colonel and a strategic affairs commentator, says that India has a freer hand to escalate due to it not having any alliances or military partnerships. “The downside is that India will be fighting alone. There are limitations on the weaponry it can buy and use. And there’s the sorry fact that Pakistan and China and other countries tend to coalesce into an anti-India coalition of sorts.”
“What India can immediately do is shut off communication on water flow that it gives to Pakistan,” says Imran Khalid, an independent water analyst from Pakistan. In the long term, he thinks India could reduce Pakistan’s access to water.