India accuses Pakistan of ‘cross-border terrorism' after Kashmir attack
India has cut off part of Pakistan's water supply and shut down the border after a terrorist attack in Kashmir triggered the worst diplomatic spat between the two countries in decades.
New Delhi has accused Islamabad of supporting 'cross-border terrorism', blaming its neighbour for the militant attack that left 26 people dead at a tourist resort in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir on Tuesday.
In response to the attack, India has downgraded its diplomatic ties with Pakistan and unveiled a raft of punitive measures.
They included suspending a key water-sharing treaty, shutting the main land border crossing between the neighbours, withdrawing several Indian diplomatic staff from Islamabad and ordering Pakistanis to return home.
Vikram Misri, the Indian foreign secretary, told reporters in New Delhi: 'The Indus Waters Treaty of 1960 will be held in abeyance with immediate effect, until Pakistan credibly and irrevocably abjures its support for cross-border terrorism.'
The 1960 Indus Water Treaty gave India and Pakistan each three Himalayan rivers and the right to hydropower and irrigation resources.
It also established the India-Pakistan Indus Commission, a bilateral body made up of representatives from the two nations and responsible for resolving any issues that arise.
Mr Misri added that the crossing at the Attari-Wagah border would 'be closed with immediate effect', although those with valid travel documents may return before May 1.
The closure is hugely symbolic, as soldiers from both nations have gathered at the Attari-Wagah border every evening since 1959 to perform a goose-stepping, chest-puffing ceremony in representation of the countries' rivalry.
The daily border ceremony has largely endured since its inception, watched on by cheering crowds, having survived several diplomatic flare-ups and military skirmishes.
India has also said it gave Islamabad's defence attachés and other military officials a week to leave New Delhi, as well as announcing its own defence, navy and air advisers would be withdrawn from Pakistan.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack in the Muslim-majority region on Tuesday, where rebels have waged an insurgency since 1989.
The insurgents are seeking independence or a merger with Pakistan, which controls a smaller part of the Kashmir region and, like India, claims it in full.
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