Indian paramilitary soldiers patrol a busy market in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, on Apr 24, 2025. (Photo: AP/Dar Yasin)
24 Apr 2025 04:55PM (Updated: 24 Apr 2025 05:09PM)
NEW DELHI: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi vowed on Thursday (Apr 24) to punish all those responsible for a gruesome attack in Kashmir that killed 26 men.
“I say to the whole world: India will identify, track and punish every terrorist and their backer,” he said in his first speech since Tuesday’s attack in the Himalayan region.
“We will pursue them to the ends of the Earth”.
The shooting in the tourist hotspot of Pahalgam was the deadliest attack on civilians in the contested Muslim-majority territory since 2000.
Of the men killed, 26 were Indian and one was Nepali.
India accused Islamabad on Wednesday of supporting “cross-border terrorism” and downgraded ties with its neighbour with a raft of diplomatic measures.
This includes the suspension of a six-decade-old river-sharing treaty, which a Pakistan government minister called an act of “water warfare”.
“India’s reckless suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty is an act of water warfare; a cowardly, illegal move,” Pakistan’s Power Minister Awais Lekhari said in a post on X late on Wednesday night.
The Indus water treaty, mediated by the World Bank and signed in 1960, split the Indus River and its tributaries between the neighbours and regulated the sharing of water. It has withstood two wars between the neighbours since then and severe strains in ties at other times.
Pakistan has denied any role in the Pahalgam attack.
Modi, who was speaking in Bihar state to launch development projects, first led two minutes of silence in memory of those killed.
“I say this unequivocally – whoever has carried out this attack, and the ones who devised it, will be made to pay beyond their imagination”, he said, speaking in Hindi in front of a large crowd.
“They will certainly pay. Whatever little land these terrorists have, it’s time to reduce it to dust. The willpower of 1.4 billion Indians will break the backbone of these terrorists.”
He finished his speech with rare comments in English, directing them to an audience abroad.
“Terrorism will not go unpunished,” Modi said. “Every effort will be made to ensure that justice is done.”
Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since their independence in 1947, with both claiming the high-altitude territory in full but governing separate portions of it.
Rebel groups have waged an insurgency in Indian-controlled Kashmir since 1989, demanding independence or a merger with Pakistan.
Indian security forces have launched a vast manhunt in Kashmir for the attackers, with large numbers of people detained in the operation.
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