India’s Modi demands Pakistan dismantle terror ‘infrastructure’ for peace after Kashmir clashes

India has only “paused” its military action and will “retaliate on its own terms” if there is any future terror attack on the country, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Monday in his first public comments since a US-brokered ceasefire over the weekend.

“We will be monitoring every step of Pakistan,” Modi said in an address to the nation. He added that India will not “tolerate nuclear blackmailing” by Pakistan and that “this is not an era of war, but this is not an era of terrorism, either.”

Pakistan would also have to get rid of its “terrorist infrastructure” if it wants to be “saved”, Modi added.

“I will tell the global community also, if we talk to Pakistan, it will be about terrorism only … it will be about Pakistan-occupied Kashmir,” Modi said, referring to Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

The escalating hostilities between the two nuclear-armed rivals after a deadly attack on tourists in Kashmir had threatened regional peace. India accused Pakistan of backing the militants who carried out the massacre, a charge Islamabad denied.

Modi spoke after Indian and Pakistani authorities said there was no firing reported overnight along the heavily militarised region between their countries – the first time in recent days the two nations were not shooting at each other.