NEW DELHI: India unveiled a raft of punitive diplomatic measures against archrival Pakistan on Wednesday, accusing Islamabad of supporting “cross-border terrorism” a day after suspected militants killed 26 men at a tourist destination in Kashmir in the worst attack on civilians in the country in nearly two decades. These measures include the suspension of a key water-sharing treaty, the shutting of the main land border crossing between the neighbors and a raft of diplomatic staff reductions, including withdrawing several Indian staff from Islamabad and ordering Pakistanis home.

Kuwait condemned and denounced in the strongest terms the terror attack in Kashmir. In a statement, the ministry of foreign affairs expressed Kuwait’s unwavering stance against all forms of terrorism whatever the motive, conveying at the same time, sincere condolences to the families of those killed in the attack and wishes of swift recovery for the injured.

HH the Amir Sheikh Meshal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah sent Wednesday a cable of condolences to Indian President Droupadi Murmu on the tragic loss of life caused by the terror attack targeting tourists in Pahalgam, Kashmir.

HH the Amir expressed sincere condolences over the fatalities and wished speedy recovery for the injured. HH the Crown Prince Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah and HH the Prime Minister Sheikh Ahmad Al-Abdullah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah also sent cables of condolences to Murmu.

Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday vowed a swift response. “Those responsible and behind such an act will very soon hear our response, loud and clear,” Singh said in a speech in New Delhi. “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.”

“The Indus Waters Treaty of 1960 will be held in abeyance with immediate effect, until Pakistan credibly and irrevocably abjures its support for cross-border terrorism”, Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri told reporters in New Delhi. The 1960 Indus Water Treaty gave India and Pakistan three Himalayan rivers each and the right to hydropower and irrigation resources. It established the India-Pakistan Indus Commission, which is supposed to resolve any problems that arise.

Misri added the border crossing at Attari-Wagah border “will be closed with immediate effect”, although those with valid travel documents may return before May 1. The border closure is hugely symbolic – it is on the Attari-Wagah crossing that crowds gather each evening to cheer on their nation’s soldiers as they goose-step in a chest-puffing theatrical ritual symbolizing the countries’ rivalry.

The daily border ritual, which began in 1959, has largely endured, surviving innumerable diplomatic flare-ups and military skirmishes. India said it had also ordered Islamabad’s defense attachés and other military officials in New Delhi to leave within a week, and said that India would also be withdrawing its own defense, navy and air advisors from Pakistan. The overall strength of the Indian high commission in Islamabad will be reduced to 30 from 55.

At least 17 people were also injured in the shooting that took place on Tuesday in the Baisaran valley in the Pahalgam area of the scenic, Himalayan federal territory of Jammu and Kashmir. The dead included 25 Indians and one Nepalese national, police said. It was the worst attack on civilians in India since the 2008 Mumbai shootings, and shattered the relative calm in Kashmir, where tourism has boomed as an anti-India insurgency has waned in recent years.

A little-known militant group, the “Kashmir Resistance”, claimed responsibility for the attack in a social media message. It expressed discontent that more than 85,000 “outsiders” had been settled in the region, spurring a “demographic change”. Indian security agencies say Kashmir Resistance, also known as The Resistance Front, is a front for Pakistan-based militant organizations such as Lashkar-e-Taiba and Hizbul Mujahideen.

The insurgents are seeking independence or a merger with Pakistan, which controls a smaller part of the Kashmir region and, like India, claims it in full. Pakistan denies accusations that it supports militant violence in Kashmir and says it only provides moral, political and diplomatic support to the insurgency there. Pakistan’s foreign ministry on Wednesday offered its “condolences to the near ones of the deceased”. After India’s diplomatic measures, Pakistan said it would convene its National Security Committee, composed of senior civil and military officials, and summoned only in cases of external threat or major attack.

The Indus River is one of the longest on the Asian continent, cutting through ultra-sensitive borders in the region, including the demarcation between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan in Kashmir. The 1960 Indus Water Treaty theoretically shares out water between the two countries but has been fraught with disputes. Pakistan has long feared that India, which sits upstream, could restrict its access, adversely affecting its agriculture. – Agencies