SRINAGAR, India: India’s army chief will review security arrangements on Friday (Apr 25) and visit the site of a deadly attack on tourists in Indian Kashmir earlier this week, with fears of fresh tensions with long-time rival and neighbour Pakistan spooking markets.
India has said there were Pakistani elements in Tuesday’s attack, when militants shot 26 men in a meadow in the Pahalgam area, and Islamabad has denied any involvement.
The nuclear-armed nations have unleashed a raft of measures against each other, with India keeping a critical river water-sharing treaty in abeyance and Pakistan closing its airspace to Indian airlines, among other steps.
General Upendra Dwivedi, India’s army chief, will visit Kashmir on Friday to review security arrangements and was likely to visit the site of the attack, an army source said, a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi vowed to chase the perpetrators to “the ends of the earth”.
Indian stock markets fell on Friday and the key indices were down by around 1 per cent, while the rupee turned lower and the 10-year benchmark bond yield jumped 4 basis points.
India’s top two carriers IndiGo and Air India said some of their international routes, including to the United States and Europe, would be affected by the closure of Pakistani airspace, leading to extended flight times and diversions.
