Diplomatic ties between the nuclear-armed South Asian
neighbours were weak even before the latest measures were announced
as Pakistan had expelled India's envoy and not posted its own ambassador in New
Delhi after India revoked the special status of Kashmir in 2019.
Pakistan had also halted its main train service to India and
banned Indian films, seeking to exert diplomatic pressure.
Tuesday's attack is seen as a setback to what Indian Prime
Minister Narendra Modi and his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party have
projected as a major achievement in revoking the semi-autonomous
status Jammu and Kashmir enjoyed and bringing peace and development to the
long-troubled Muslim-majority region.
On Wednesday, Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri told a
media briefing that the cross-border involvement in the Kashmir attack was
underscored at a special security cabinet meeting, prompting it to act against
Pakistan.
He said
New Delhi would immediately suspend the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty "until
Pakistan credibly and irrevocably abjures its support for cross-border terrorism."
The treaty, mediated by the World Bank, split the Indus
River and its tributaries between the neighbours and regulated the sharing of
water. It had so far withstood even wars between the neighbours.
Pakistan
is heavily dependent on water flowing downstream from this river system from
Indian Kashmir for its hydropower and irrigation needs. Suspending the treaty
would allow India to deny Pakistan its share of the waters.
India also closed the only open land border crossing point
between the two countries and said that those who have crossed into India can
return through the point before May 01, 2025.
With no direct flights operating between the two countries,
the move severs all transport links between them.
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