The tension between India and Pakistan reached critical levels, with the Pakistani government stating that an offensive from the neighboring country is imminent.
This began with an attack in the Jammu and Caxemira Himalayan, which killed 26 people on April 22.
Understand below the main conflict points between India and Pakistan.
What happened between India and Pakistan?
On April 22, armed men in the mountainous region of Pahalgam, managed by India.
At least 25 Indian citizens and one Nepalese were killed. The offensive occurred in a meadow in the Baisaran Valley – which is only accessible on foot or on horseback.
Witnesses described scenes of horror, stating that the terrorists opened fire within a distance. Other survivors who spoke to the press said gunmen accused families of supporting Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi before shooting.
The Cashmira Resistance Group, also known as The Resistance Front, claimed responsibility for the attack, expressing discontent with “outsiders” that settled in the region and caused a “demographic change”.
A CNN could not verify independently this claim.
On the 23rd, India accused the but the Pakistani government denied any involvement in the case.
Who is resistance from Caxemira?
The resistance of Caxemira, or The Resistance Front, emerged in 2019 and is considered a branch of Lashkar-e-Taiba, based in Pakistan, according to the southern Asian terrorism portal, a Think Tank hosted in Delhi.
Lashkar-e-Taiba, listed as a foreign terrorist organization by the United States, is an Islamic group accused of planning attacks in India and the West, including the three-day attack on Mumbai in November 2008.
“This is basically a façade for Let. These are groups that have been created in recent years, especially when Pakistan was under pressure from the financial action task force and tried to create a standard of involvement in Jammu and Caxemira terrorism,” said Ajai Sahni, head of the southern terrorism portal of Asia.
In 2019, the resistance of Caxemira claimed responsibility for a grenade attack in the largest city of Jammu and Caxemira, Srinar, according to a Think-Tank Research Observer Research Foundation (orf).
The emergence of the group is portrayed as the “beginning of a new indigenous resistance in cashmire,” said the orf in 2021.
India classified resistance as a “terrorist organization” and linked it to Lashkar-e-taiba
The Interior Ministry of India informed Parliament in 2023 that the group was involved in planning murders of security forces and civilians in Jammu and Caxemira.
The group also coordinated the recruitment of militants and the smuggling of weapons and narcotics through the border, according to the portfolio.
Intelligence officers told Reuters that the group was also making online threats against Pro-India groups in the last two years.
Pakistan has denied it that supports and finance militants in Caxemira, stating that it offers only moral and diplomatic support.
Why is cashmira important to India and Pakistan?
CAXEMIRA is one of
Claimed in its entirety by both India and Pakistan, the mountainous region has been the epicenter of a frequently violent territorial dispute between the two nuclear powers for over 70 years.
The issue caused three wars between countries and a border called the control line divides the region between New Delhi and Islamabad.
The tensions between Hindu, and Pakistan, mostly Muslim, has increased in recent years, after the government led by Modi revoked its constitutional autonomy in 2019, placing it under direct control of New Delhi.
Although the Indian government stated that militancy has decreased amid the strong military presence, the attacks continue to torment the region, causing agitation and protests.
Meanwhile, there has been strong media censorship and blackouts in communications.
Analysts claim that the massacre against tourists destroyed the illusion of calm that Modi designed about the region and raises questions about how such a security fault could have occurred in one of the world’s most militarized zones.
Retaliation after attack
In the days that followed the attack in Pahalgam, the relations between the two countries deteriorated.
India canceled the visa of Pakistani citizens, and Pakistan responded with a reciprocal action. Both countries instructed diplomats and citizens to return home before April 30.
But perhaps the most significant retaliation was the suspension of India’s participation in the Indian water treaty, an important pact of water sharing with Pakistan in force since 1960 and which is considered a rare history of diplomatic success between the two neighbors.
The huge Indian River system, which supports subsistence means in Pakistan and northern India, originates from Tibet, flowing through China and the cashmire controlled by India before reaching Pakistan.
“The reduction of diplomatic ties and the suspension of the Indian water treaty are not good signs for stability in the region,” said Fahd Humayun, assistant professor of political science at Tufts University.
“The suspension not only represents a violation of the obligations of the international treaty, but the right to water as a lower riverside country is seen as a matter of national security by Pakistan and its suspension will be interpreted as a belligerent action,” he added.
Pakistan Energy Minister Awais Leghari called the measure “an act of war.”
“Every drop is ours by right, and we will defend it with full force – legal, political and globally,” said Leghari.
Risk of military climbing
Both India and Pakistan have shown their military power after the attack.
Pakistan slaughtered an Indian drone used for “espionage” in the disputed caixemira region, Pakistani security sources told CNN.
Two days earlier, the Indian Navy said it had performed missile test attacks to “revalidate and demonstrate the readiness of platforms, systems and crew for offensive long -range offensive attacks.”
Tension has also increased along the control line, and shots have been exchanged along the border disputed for consecutive nights.
The directors of military operations from both countries talked about a direct line on Tuesday (29), confirmed the Indian state broadcaster and the Armed Forces of Pakistan on Wednesday-the first conversation between the military authorities since the Pahalgam attack.
