India asks its citizens in Pakistan to return home ‘at the earliest’

NEW DELHI

India on Thursday asked its citizens visiting Pakistan to return home “at the earliest,” a day after it unilaterally suspended a bilateral water-sharing pact, the Indus Waters Treaty, with its western neighbor.

It also asked Indian nationals to avoid traveling to Pakistan, a Foreign Ministry statement said.

The ministry also announced the suspension of visa services to Pakistani citizens. Earlier, it had suspended visas to Pakistani citizens under the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation framework.

The latest set of moves initiated by New Delhi comes in the wake of an attack on tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir which left 26 dead.

Pakistan has retaliated with its own measures, including suspending all trade and closing land routes as well as closing airspace.