SRINAGAR: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi vowed on Thursday to pursue, track and punish terrorists and their backers in a strong reaction to a deadly militant attack on tourists in Kashmir.
At a speech in India's eastern state of Bihar, Modi folded his hands in prayer in remembrance for the 26 men who were shot and killed in a meadow in the Pahalgam region of Indian Kashmir, exhorting thousands gathered at the venue to do the same.
Police have identified two of the gunmen as Pakistani.
"We will pursue them to the ends of the earth," Modi said, referring to the attackers.
His comments are bound to further inflame ties between the nuclear-armed rivals after India downgraded ties with Pakistan late on Wednesday, suspending a six-decade old water treaty and closing the only land border crossing between the neighbours.
Pakistan's Power Minister Awais Lekhari called the suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty "an act of water warfare; a cowardly, illegal move".
Police in Indian Kashmir published notices on Thursday naming three suspected militants "involved in" the attack, and announced rewards for information leading to their arrest.
Two of them are Pakistani nationals, the notices said. They did not say how the men were identified.
Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said on Wednesday a cabinet committee on security was briefed on the cross-border linkages of the attack, the worst on civilians in the country in nearly two decades.
Misri, the top diplomat in India's foreign ministry, did not offer any proof of the linkages or provide any more details.
New Delhi will also pull out its defence advisers in Pakistan and reduce staff size at its mission in Islamabad to 30 from 55, Misri said.
India has summoned the top diplomat at the Pakistan embassy in New Delhi, local media reported, to give notice that all defence advisers in the Pakistani mission were persona non grata and given a week to
leave, one of the measures Misri announced.
Modi has also called for an all-party meeting with opposition parties to brief them on the government's response to the attack.
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