Pahalgam Terror Attack: India Plays The Indus Card

Kashmir is on edge following the bloody terror attack on holiday makers in Pahalgam. The images of the dead and their grieving families have angered Indians with hardliners calling for retaliatory strikes against Pakistan. Tension between two nuclear armed states is a threat to stability in an already volatile region. Former US president Bill Clinton once called the India-Pakistan border the most dangerous place in the world.

These fears are not unfounded. Defence minister Rajnath Singh set the tone by saying Wednesday morning that those responsible will ``soon hear our response, loud and clear.’’ He went on to warn ``“We won’t just reach those people who carried out the attack. We will also reach out to those who planned this from behind the scenes on our land.” He did not mention Pakistan in his statement.

The BJP has always projected Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a strong leader capable of taking decisive action. As a party the BJP had always stood for a strong assertive government. A section of people both in social media and experts that frequent television channels are baying for blood. Could public perception force the government라이브 바카라 hand?

But India라이브 바카라 response on Wednesday was calibrated. Modi was on a visit to Saudi Arabia but cut short his trip and rushed back home following the attack. Later he presided over the meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) which took stock of the situation and deliberated its next move. India announced a series of measures to further downgrade relations with Pakistan which are already in the doldrums following the scrapping of Kashmir라이브 바카라 special status in 2019.

Foreign secretary Vikram Misri at a briefing after the meeting, told reporters that at the CCS ``the cross-border linkages of the terrorist attack were brought out. It was noted that this attack came in the wake of the successful holding of elections in the Union Territory and its steady progress towards economic growth and development.’’ The CCS thanked friendly countries for their support. US President Donald Trump, Russia라이브 바카라 Vladimir Putin, Israel라이브 바카라 Netanyahu, Britain라이브 바카라 Starmer and Italy라이브 바카라 Giorgia Meloni all extended support. Saudi Arabia, China and a host of others followed. The CCS noted that there is zero tolerance for terrorism the world over.

The meeting announced a number of measurers to downgrade diplomatic relations with Pakistan. India said it was holding in abeyance the Indus Waters Treaty, closing the Attari-Wagah Check Post, and cancelling SAARC visa facilities for Pakistanis. Those who are here on such visas have to leave the country within 48-hours.

By next month the strength of the high commissions will be brought down to 30 from the current 55 members and the three military attaches in the Pakistan mission have been asked to leave. India라이브 바카라 army, navy and air force attachés are also being recalled. In short while not severing all diplomatic links with Islamabad, Delhi has reduced it to the minimum.

Pakistan can absorb the scuttling down of its mission as well as the closure of the Attari-Wagah checkpoints, its main worry will be the Indus Water Treaty. Water is a lifeline for agricultural economies and there is already a severe shortage of water in Pakistan.

This is the first time that the water sharing agreement hammered out by India and Pakistan, with the help of the World Bank in 1960 has been targeted. After partition the rivers of Punjab was divided between India and Pakistan. India got control of the eastern rivers, Ravi, Beas, and Sutlej — while Pakistan got exclusive rights to the flow from the Indus, Jhelum, and Chenab, or the western rivers.

The treaty had withstood the test of wars and diplomatic breakdowns between the two countries. Yet in recent times after every terror attack, there have been demands from various quarters to scrap the agreement. However doing so is not easy. In 2019 there was talk again of walking out of the agreement. India has asked for a review of the treaty in 2023, wanting to rework the 1960 pact. New Delhi has been careful however to keep the treaty in abeyance and has not gone against international principles of water sharing by walking out.

The Indus and its tributaries are the lifeline of Pakistan라이브 바카라 agriculture. They sustain a population of tens of millions, fulfilling 23 per cent of the country's agricultural water needs and directly supporting nearly 68 per cent of rural livelihoods. Disruptions could lead to reduced crop yield, food insecurity and agrarian crisis, at a time when Pakistan라이브 바카라 economy is going through an unprecedented crisis.