Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said India “only paused” its military action against Pakistan, in his first speech to the nation since a ceasefire following a fierce military confrontation last week that threatened a fifth all-out war between the nuclear-armed neighbours.
Speaking on Wednesday, the ultranationalist Hindu leader said in New Delhi that his government will not make a distinction between governments that support “terrorism” and “terrorist groups”. He said India would “retaliate on its own terms” if there is any future “terror” attack on the country.
The Indian military launched multiple missile attacks targeting sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir on May 6, claiming it had hit “terrorist infrastructure”.
Pakistan rejected that claim.
Pakistan chose to “attack” India rather than combat terrorism, Modi stated, asserting that his country “will not tolerate nuclear blackmail”.
“We will be monitoring every step of Pakistan,” Modi added, saying that “This is not an era of war, but this is not an era of terrorism, either.”
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Turning to the Indus Waters Treaty with Pakistan, Modi said, “Terror and trade cannot go together, water and blood cannot flow together.”
The treaty, brokered by the World Bank, has long survived multiple crises between the two rivals. However, India’s recent decision to stop the flow of water signals a sharp diplomatic shift, using water that Pakistan relies on for agricultural and civilian purposes as leverage.
Pakistan’s Finance Minister said in an interview with the Reuters news agency on Monday that the Indus Waters Treaty, unilaterally suspended by India, “has to be rolled back to where it was”.
On Monday, United States President Donald Trump claimed that by helping to broker the ceasefire, his administration had prevented “a nuclear conflict”.
New Delhi has blamed Islamabad for a deadly April 22 attack on tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir in Pahalgam, during which 26 people were killed – a charge Pakistan strongly denies.
According to their partial counts, the fighting since last week killed around 60 civilians on both sides.
Indian and Pakistani military to review ceasefire
India’s and Pakistan’s top military commanders were expected to revisit a recently brokered ceasefire agreement on Monday evening.
The Indian Army earlier reported a “calm night”, as authorities said the night passed peacefully across disputed Kashmir and the international border, with no new incidents reported.
A senior Indian defence official confirmed that talks, originally scheduled for noon local time, were pushed to later in the day. The discussions, analysts say, will likely focus on technical details to prevent future flare-ups rather than shape long-term policy.
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Abdul Basit, a South Asia specialist at Singapore’s S Rajaratnam School of International Studies, said the purpose of the exchange is to establish clear lines and avoid missteps.
“The goal is to avoid any miscalculations, because right now one spark could quickly move towards a nuclear catastrophe,” Basit told the AFP news agency.
The spike in hostilities had marked the most serious confrontation between the nuclear-armed neighbours since their last declared conflict in 1999.
As tensions cooled, Indian authorities reopened 32 airports on Monday that had been shut down due to the fighting.
Both sides claim victory
Civilians in Kashmir have suffered the most in the crossfire.
Military leaders in both countries spent Sunday delivering pointed briefings, each asserting they had won while pledging restraint.
“We have delivered the promise we made to our people,” Pakistan’s military spokesman Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry declared, describing the recent operation as a “success on the battleground”.
Air Vice Marshal Aurangzeb Ahmed added that Pakistan had “re-established deterrence and neutralised key threats”.
India’s Lieutenant General Rajiv Ghai insisted that his country had shown “immense restraint,” but warned: “Any threat to the sovereignty, territorial integrity and safety of our citizens will be met with decisive force.”
Both nations remain on high alert despite the temporary calm, as the world watches for signs of lasting de-escalation or a reignition of hostilities.
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