Pakistan PM Warns of War With India Over Kashmir Crackdown

India’s Monday revocation of generations of Kashmiri legal autonomy was a huge issue, and no where was it felt more immediately than in neighboring Pakistan. With Pakistan strongly identifying with the Kashmiri separatist movement, it was only natural that the crackdown led to immediate protests across Pakistan, and calls for action.

This is a risky situation, however, not only aligning India and Pakistan, two regional rivals, against one another, and Pakistani PM Imran Khan warned on Tuesday that a war could break out between the two nuclear-armed powers over the fate of Kashmiris.

Khan said that his biggest concern is that India’s move could trigger attacks by Kashmiris against Indian soldiers stationed in Kashmir, and that India was liable to blame Pakistan for any such attack.

That’s not entirely unlikely. Almost every Pakistani militant group has ties to  Kashmiri independence groups, and India constantly blames the Pakistani government for fighting in Kashmir. Having moved against Kashmir, India is all but guaranteeing such a confrontation.

Pakistan’s Army also issued a Tweet saying they stand by the Kashmiris “to the very end,” and are prepared to go to any extent to fulfill their obligations to them.