The nuclear-armed nations have unleashed a raft of measures against each other, with India putting the critical Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance and Pakistan closing its airspace to Indian airlines.
The treaty, negotiated in 1960, split the Indus River and its tributaries between the two countries and regulated water sharing.
“We will ensure that not a single drop of the Indus River’s water reaches Pakistan,” Indian Water Resources Minister C.R. Paatil said in a post on X.
Pakistan depends heavily on the Indus system for hydropower and irrigation, and has said any attempt to stop or divert its waters will be an “act of war”.
US President Donald Trump appeared to play down the tensions, saying he was confident India and Pakistan will figure out relations between themselves, although the attack had been “a bad one.” He said he was very close to both India and Pakistan and knew both their leaders.
“They’ll get it figured out one way or the other, I’m sure of that,” Trump said as he travelled aboard his plane. “There’s great tension between Pakistan and India, but there always has been.”
Indian financial markets fell sharply but recovered some of their losses to close 0.7 per cent to 0.9 per cent lower. The Indian rupee fell 0.2 per cent, while the yield of India’s 10-year benchmark bond rose four basis points.
