India, Pakistan Trade Fire as Tensions Spiral

Date: 25 April 2025 - 23:11

News ID: ۱۳۸۸۵۳

MUMBAI, India (Dispatches) — A day after the United Nations appealed for “maximum restraint” between Pakistan and India, the Indian military reported an exchange of fire with Pakistani soldiers on Friday across the de-facto border of the disputed region of Kashmir.
Tensions between the two nuclear-armed neighbors have soared after India blamed Pakistan for a militant attack in Indian-controlled Kashmir on Tuesday that killed 26 men. Pakistan has denied involvement in the attack, one of the deadliest on Indian civilians in years.
In a briefing Thursday, Stéphane Dujarric, the spokesperson for UN Secretary-General António Guterres, told reporters that the UN was appealing to both countries “to ensure that the situation and the developments we’ve seen do not deteriorate any further.”
Friday’s brief exchange of gunfire appeared to end without casualties, according to the Indian military and media. Pakistan’s foreign ministry spokesperson declined to comment on the firing at a press briefing in Islamabad, saying he would defer to the Pakistani military for formal confirmation.
Some Indian analysts warned of the possibility of more serious military action in the coming days. “One thing we can say with pretty much absolute certainty is that there will be a military response,” said Siddharth Varadarajan, founding editor of The Wire, an online daily.
The victims of Tuesday’s attack, mostly Hindu tourists, were ambushed in a remote alpine meadow.
Both Pakistan and India control parts of Muslim-majority Kashmir, and both countries claim it in its entirety. They have gone to war over Kashmir multiple times.
Following the attack, India announced the suspension of a decades-old
water treaty with Pakistan. It shuttered a major border crossing and ordered the expulsion of military advisers from the Pakistani diplomatic mission in New Delhi.
Pakistan announced similar countermeasures, and ordered a halt to trade with India and closed its airspace to Indian aircraft. It also warned that any move by India to hold back water would be considered an “act of war,” according to a statement from the office of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
Rajesh Rajagopalan, a professor of international politics at the Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, noted that it would be difficult for India to sustain a wider conflict, simply because it does not have enough air power to do so.