India and Pakistan once again at war but will it go nuclear?

AS IF life were not difficult enough for people of the Indian subcontinent that its two nuclear powers should be again at war with each other.

After terrorists killed 26 Indian tourists in a picturesque little resort town in Kashmir last month, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi threatened to hunt the “terrorists and their backers … to the ends of the earth”. He then moved to “suspend” the Indus Water Treaty, that has stood since 1960 and sets out how water from the Indus River system can be used by both India and Pakistan. It was brokered by the World Bank and has survived three Indo-Pakistan wars.

The suspension sparked a fierce reaction from Islamabad. Pakistan is downstream in the river system but the water accounts for no less than 80 per cent of the country’s farm irrigation water and for its hydroelectric dams. Pakistan has often accused India of diverting water upstream by building weirs and dams. India has always denied doing any such thing.