India, Pakistan exchange gunfire for 3rd night as tensions soar after Pahalgam bloodshed

Tensions are running high, with the Indian Army once again accusing their Pakistani counterparts of "unprovoked" cross-border firings

Indian security force personnel stand guard on the banks of Dal Lake, following a suspected militant attack near south Kashmir's Pahalgam, in Srinagar Apr 25, 2025. REUTERS

Indian and Pakistani forces have exchanged fire for the third consecutive night across the Line of Control (LoC), the military control boundary, amid souring relations between the neighbours following last week's terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam.

Tensions are running high along the LoC, with the Indian Army once again accusing their Pakistani counterparts of engaging in regular and "unprovoked" cross-border firings, Indian broadcaster NDTV reports.

"On the night of Apr 26-27, 2025, Pakistan Army posts initiated unprovoked small arms fire in the areas opposite Tutmari Gali and Rampur sectors. Our troops responded effectively with appropriate small arms fire," the Indian Army said in a statement.

The repeated ceasefire violations follow the Pahalgam massacre, one of the worst terror attacks in decades and the deadliest since the revocation of Article 370 in 2019, according to NDTV. Twenty-six civilians were killed by terrorists India says it has linked to the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba, further straining relations between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.

Pakistan, often accused of being a "global epicentre of terrorism," has denied direct involvement. It has called for a "neutral and credible" investigation into the attack, even as its troops continue cross-border firings from areas known to host terror launch pads, NDTV says.

The latest flare-ups come alongside a series of retaliatory measures by India. Diplomatic staff from both countries have been recalled, visa services suspended, and the Wagah-Attari border, the sole trade route between the two countries, has been shut down.

India also announced the suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty, a landmark agreement signed in 1960 to share river water between the two nations. The move sparked outrage in Pakistan, with Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) chief Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari warning: "The Indus is ours and will remain ours -- either our water will flow through it, or their blood."

Indian Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri dismissed the threat, saying bluntly: "Let him jump somewhere in water."

Meanwhile, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, in his first statement on the Pahalgam attack, called for a "neutral and transparent" probe, accusing India of engaging in a "perpetual blame game".

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, however, has promised strong and decisive action. He vowed that Indian forces would hunt down the terrorists and conspirators responsible for the attack, assuring the nation that their punishment would be "bigger than they can imagine".