Pahalgam attack: India, Pakistan trade fire across LoC

US President Donald Trump appeared unconcerned by the escalating tensions between nuclear-armed neighbors India and Pakistan in recent days.

Asked aboard Air Force One about the flare-up since Tuesday's attack in Kashmir, the US president seemed to downplay the tension.

"There have been tensions on that border for 1,500 years so, you know, it's the same as it has been," Trump told reporters. "But they'll get it figured out, one way or another."

Trump nevertheless acknowledged that the attack, where 26 tourists were killed, was a "bad one." He added that he was very close to both countries and knew their leaders.

The US president had condemned the attack shortly after it happened, calling it  "deeply disturbing." He spoke to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the phone to offer his "full support," according to India's Foreign Ministry. 

Radha Kumar, a specialist on ethnic conflicts, peace and security based in New Delhi, told DW that it was very difficult to predict whether conflict between India and Pakistan would escalate militarily at this point.

"[Indian Prime Minister] Modi's statement that he would hunt down terrorists to the 'ends of the earth,' is partly rhetorical, but partly might signal an attempt to try and find them [attackers] individual by individual, rather than try to deal collectively."

In 2019, India hit an alleged militant camp in northwestern Pakistan after a car bomb attack by militants killed at least 40 paramilitary personnel in Indian-administered Kashmir.

Several leaders of Modi's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party have called for military action against Pakistan.

Armed police and soldiers searched homes and forests for militants in Indian-administered Kashmir in the aftermath of the violence in Pahalgam where tourists were gunned down by militants earlier this week.

Indian police have released sketches of three men suspected to have attacked the popular tourist destination in Kashmir, also officially known as the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir.

Residents and police in southern Kashmir said Friday that Indian soldiers detonated explosives in the family homes of two suspected militants they accused of being involved in Tuesday's attack.

In the past, Indian troops have demolished homes as a way to punish militancy in Kashmir. New Delhi describes all militancy in Kashmir as Pakistan-backed terrorism, accusations denied by Islamabad.

Many Muslim Kashmiris consider the militants to be part of a home-grown freedom struggle. 

India and Pakistan have unleashed a raft of measures against each other following a deadly attack on tourists in Kashmir.

India has scrapped a water-sharing treaty. Pakistani officials say any attempt to stop the supply of water would be an act of war.

Rahul Gandhi, the parliamentary leader of India's main opposition party, the Indian National Congress, met with one person injured in the attack in Pahalgam.

"I came here to get a sense of what is going on and to help. The entire people of Jammu and Kashmir have condemned this terrible action, and they've fully supported the nation," said Gandhi, who also belongs to India's most famous political family. 

He said once again that all parties stood united, adding: "The idea behind what has happened is to divide society, to make brother fight brother. And it is very important that every single Indian stands united, stands together, so that we can defeat what the terrorists were trying to do."

The union territory of Jammu and Kashmir and the union territory of Ladakh are both parts of Kashmir that are administered by the Indian government.

The two territories came to be in 2019, when the Indian government split what used to be the single state of Jammu and Kashmir into two territories.

In India, the term union territory is a type of administrative division directly governed by the federal government. In the country, states have their own governments.

But, there's a caveat — the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir was created with a legislative assembly according to the act of 2019.

The union territory of Ladakh does not have a legislature — and that has typically been the case with union territories in history except Puducherry and New Delhi.

This means that the leader of Jammu and Kashmir is an elected official, Omar Abdullah. But his government is still largely powerless since it runs a union territory.

Manoj Sinha, the lieutenant governor of the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir, has significant executive powers, especially over police and public order.

The head of the union territory of Ladakh is BD Mishra, who is the lieutenant governor or the constitutional head of the territory.

Currently, India has 28 states and 8 union territories.

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has told his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi he was "horrified" by this week's attack in Kashmir that killed 26 civilians.

A spokesperson for Starmer said the two leaders spoke by phone on Friday morning, with the British leader saying he was "horrified by the devastating terrorist attack in Jammu in Kashmir on Tuesday."

They added: "He expressed his deep condolences on behalf of the British people to all those affected, their loved ones and the people of India."

New Delhi has accused Pakistan of backing the militant group blamed for the attack, which Islamabad denies.

The incident has ratcheted up tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbors over the disputed territory, which is part administered by India, Pakistan and China.

India's army chief, General Upendra Dwivedi, also met with the head of the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir on Friday, according to the Press Trust of India (PTI) news agency.

Manoj Sinha's office issued a statement saying that officials reviewed the security situation in the region, including short-term and long-term measures, according to the PTI report.

The statement added that Sinha had asked the army chief to take effective steps to trace those responsible for the Pahalgam attack as well as "intensify efforts to crush the infrastructure of terrorism and its ecosystem." 

Few regions on earth are as densely militarized and as persistently volatile as Kashmir.

Cradled in the Himalayas and bordered by three nuclear powers in India, Pakistan and China, the contested territory has long been a crucible of regional rivalries, and unresolved territorial ambitions.

Read more from DW's analysis on the renewed volatility in Kashmir.

General Upendra Dwivedi, India's army chief, has arrived in the city of Srinagar, about 90 kilometers (about 55 miles) from the site of Tuesday's attack.

The army chief is also visiting Kashmir after Indian and Pakistani troops exchanged fire along the border that separates the Kashmir region into Indian and Pakistani territories.

Syed Ashfaq Gilani, a senior government official in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, told AFP news agency that troops exchanged fire overnight.

"There is post-to-post firing in Leepa valley overnight. There is no firing on the civilian population. Life is normal. Schools are open," he said.

India’s army confirmed there had been limited firing of small arms that it said had been initiated by Pakistan, adding it had been "effectively responded to." 

Dwivedi also met with the head of the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir on Friday (see more on entry here).

India's Narendra Modi government held a meeting with leaders of all political parties of the country to brief them on the violence in Pahalgam that claimed 26 lives earlier this week.

Senior members of the government on Thursday briefed leaders to build political consensus over matters of national security and received widespread support, according to local reports.

Rahul Gandhi, the parliamentary leader of the main opposition Indian National Congress (INC) party, told reporters after the meeting that all parties condemn the attack and they "support any action against terror."

The meeting drew some flak from opposition members because the Indian prime minister, who has the final say on decisions, was missing, according to local reports.

The Indian Express newspaper reported that a key opposition leader raised questions about the "issue of security lapses," saying "How can such a lapse happen when a three-tier security was in place? Rahul Gandhi asked how 1000-odd people can go there and the police do not have any knowledge?"

The newspaper report said that Asaduddin Owaisi, the president of the conservative All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen that represents Muslim minority interests, strongly supported the Modi government in its response, but also pointed out that "Muslims have nothing to do with [the attack]."

"We agree that these terrorists killed someone after asking their religion. It is condemnable, I don't have words. But in response to that, if you do this [harassment], then we will be strengthening the hands of the terrorists," he said.

Separately, Kashmir's top elected official also convened a meeting with political parties and adopted a resolution to support the "steps taken by the Union Government," referring to the raft of measures taken by India to downgrade ties with Pakistan in the aftermath of the attack in Pahalgam. 

Air India and IndiGo have begun rerouting international flights after Pakistan shut its airspace to Indian carriers amid rising tensions over the deadly militant attack in Kashmir.

The two airlines have diverted flights to destinations such as New York, Azerbaijan and Dubai, which typically cross Pakistan airspace, according to data from tracking website Flightradar24.

The worst-impacted is expected to be New Delhi, one of the world's busiest airports

Data from Cirium Ascend showed IndiGo, Air India and its budget unit Air India Express have roughly 1,200 flights combined from New Delhi scheduled for Europe, the Middle East and North America in April.

Due to the ban, the Indian carriers are bracing for higher fuel costs and longer journey times of around an hour.

International airlines are not affected by the ban, which will remain in place until May 23.

Pakistan's upper house of parliament has passed a resolution condemning all forms of terrorism, in reaction to India's attempt to link Pakistan to the deadly attack in Pahalgam in Indian-administered Kashmir.

The resolution in the Senate said the killing of innocent civilians was contrary to the values upheld by Pakistan.

Lawmakers said they rejected all "frivolous and baseless claims" to link Pakistan to the attack on April 22.

The resolution also called India's decision to unilaterally suspend the Indus Waters treaty an "act of war."

The treaty was signed in 1960 to aid water distribution from the Indus River, shared by both South Asian nations.

The text, put forward by Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar, stated that Pakistan "remains fully capable and prepared to defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity against any aggression, including water terrorism or military provocation."

Exchanges of fire have been reported in Kashmir, as tensions between India and Pakistan spiral. Delhi has revoked visas and suspended a water treaty with its neighbor, whom it blames for a deadly attack on tourists in Indian-controlled Kashmir.