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Topics: News, World News, India
Gerrard Kaonga
The terrorist attack that occurred on April 22 is considered the deadliest to occur in over 25 years in the Indian-administered Kashmir region and has sparked concerns over further escalation.
In a bizarre twist, a man recorded himself enjoying a zipline unaware that a terrorist attack was unfolding beneath him in northern India.
People at the popular tourist location Baisaran meadow in Pahalgam, Kashmir were set upon by at least four individuals with guns and shot and killed 26 people.
The incident has caused outrage across the entirety of India and sparked concerns the situation between Pakistan and India could worsen.
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We know that at around 2.45pm armed men in camouflage clothes emerged from a nearby forest and opened indiscriminate fire at Baisaran meadow, according to a report by Al Jazeera.
At least 26 people have been killed and all of them are believed to be men.
The militants also reportedly asked the men’s religion before shooting some of the tourists caught up in the attack.
Kashmir Resistance, known officially as The Resistance Front (TRF), has since claimed responsibility for the attack.
A statement attributed to The Resistance Front linked the attacks to the thousands of residency permits being handed over to Indian citizens, which allow them to live and work in Kashmir.
Back in 2019 the Indian government stripped Kashmir’s semi-autonomous status and ultimately asserted more federal control over the area, splitting the former state into two union territories.
This proceeded to agitate political tensions.
Indian officials, who wished to remain anonymous, spoke to Al Jazeera and said authorities suspect that they know the nationality of the four individuals suspected in the attack.
They believe two of them are from Pakistan, and two from Indian-administered Kashmir.
Pakistan has denied that it provided support for militancy in Kashmir, though its leaders often express solidarity with Kashmiris who want independence from India.
The Indian government has responded in a multitude of ways since the attack with many suspecting this will result in long-held tension between the two countries.
India has suspending Pakistan’s participation in the Indus Waters Treaty, a 1960 pact that has governed how India and Pakistan share the waters of the six Indus basin rivers.
The Integrated Check Post Attari, or the Attari-Wagah crossing, that acts as the main border crossing between the two countries, has been closed.
Visas granted to Pakistanis have been cancelled, and any Pakistani currently visiting India on a SVES visa must leave within 48 hours of the statement issued on Wednesday.
The military, naval and air advisers in the Pakistani High Commission in New Delhi have a week to leave India, while Indian military, naval and air advisers will be pulled back from the Indian High Commission in Islamabad.