The Indian Army returned fire late on 24 April following speculative gunfire by Pakistani troops on Indian positions along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir, military sources confirmed.
Security personnel "effectively responded" to the provocations, with no reported casualties, according to NDTV.
“There were incidents of small arms firing at certain locations along the LoC initiated by Pakistan last night. The firing was effectively responded to,” sources said.
This flare-up comes in the immediate aftermath of a deadly terrorist assault on tourists in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, which claimed the lives of 26 people, including a Nepali national. The incident has triggered a fresh diplomatic crisis between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.
In a firm response, India has expelled Pakistani military attachés, shut down the Attari land-transit route, and suspended the Indus Waters Treaty, a landmark agreement brokered in 1960 that has withstood previous periods of tension.
On Thursday, Delhi formally notified Islamabad of its decision to suspend the treaty indefinitely. A letter issued by India’s Ministry of Water Resources to Pakistan's Secretary for Water Resources, Syed Ali Murtuza, stated: “The obligation to honour a treaty in good faith is fundamental. However, what we have instead witnessed is sustained cross-border terrorism by Pakistan targeting the Indian Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.”
The letter further criticised Pakistan’s persistent refusal to address evolving concerns, highlighting what it termed “fundamental changes in circumstances” since the treaty’s inception. These include demographic shifts, the imperative to accelerate clean energy development, and altered assumptions regarding water-sharing dynamics.
India also accused Pakistan of breaching the treaty by refusing to engage in negotiations, as provided for under the agreement. “Pakistan’s continued inaction has given rise to uncertainties that directly impede India’s full utilisation of its rights under the treaty,” the letter asserted.
The suspension was approved during a high-level meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Following the Pahalgam massacre, Modi pledged to “identify, track and punish” every terrorist and their “backers”.
Pakistan, in turn, has threatened to revoke all existing bilateral agreements, including the Simla Agreement of 1972, which validates the current delineation of the Line of Control.
With tensions soaring, both militarily and diplomatically, the subcontinent stands once again on the edge of confrontation, fuelled by bloodshed, rhetoric and broken accords.
