Pakistan tests missile amid tension with India after Kashmir attack

The nuclear-armed nations have been ratcheting up pressure after India vowed to punish those responsible for April’s fatal terror attack; Pakistan denies involvement

Pakistan’s military said it tested a long-range missile amid rising tensions with neighbour India following an attack that killed more than two dozen people, mainly tourists, in India-controlled Kashmir.

The launch of the surface-to-surface Abdali missile was aimed at ensuring the operational readiness of troops and validating key technical parameters, the Pakistan military’s media wing said in a statement on Saturday.

The exercise was to test the weapon system’s navigation system and maneuverability features, it added.

India’s Ministry of External Affairs did not comment immediately on the missile test.

While countries may routinely conduct such defence drills, this missile test comes at a time when the two nuclear-armed nations have been ratcheting up pressure and levying tit-for-tat measures after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government vowed to punish those responsible for the April 22 terror attack.

While India has accused Pakistan of involvement in this incident, Pakistan has denied any links to the assault and warned of retaliation if India takes military action. The US has been urging a de-escalation to avoid a broader regional conflict.

India banned the import of all goods originating from or transiting through Pakistan with immediate effect, its Directorate General of Foreign Trade said in on Friday.

On Saturday, India’s Directorate General of Shipping said that ships bearing the Pakistan flag were not to visit Indian ports while no ship with an Indian flag were to dock anywhere in Pakistan.

This was to “ensure safety of Indian assets, cargo and connected infrastructure”, according to the order.

Since the attack in Kashmir, India’s punitive measures to cut ties with Pakistan included suspending the Indus Waters Treaty of 1960, cancelling visas of Pakistanis living in India, forcing Pakistani diplomats out of the country and restricting its airspace.

Pakistan too has announced retaliatory measures against India, such as halting all trade, closing its airspace and expelling Indian diplomats. It has warned that any attempt to prevent the flow of water promised under the decades-old treaty would be seen as an act of war.

Islamabad has, however, offered to join a probe either by Indian officials or an independent agency to find facts and avoid conflict.

Dwindling trade

Trade between the two nations has dwindled over the last few years. India imported US$420,000 worth of goods from Pakistan between April 2024 and January 2025, a sharp plunge from US$2.86 million of imports over the same period in the previous year, data from India’s commerce ministry shows.

Exports from India to Pakistan also dropped to US$447.7 million between April 2024 and January 2025 from US$1.1 billion the year before, according to the ministry data.

While US officials including Vice-President J.D. Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio have been urging both the South Asian nations to de-escalate, India’s foreign minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar reiterated this week that the attack’s “perpetrators, backers and planners must be brought to justice”.