India’s Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, is giving the armed forces near complete freedom of action to respond following a deadly attack on tourists in the disputed Jammu and Kashmir region on April 22 that saw 26 people killed by terrorists. India and Pakistan have exchanged fire every day since the attack along the Line of Control that separates the Indian and Pakistani areas of Kashmir.

The Times of India reported on Tuesday that Modi has given the military the operational freedom to decide on the mode, targets, and timing of the response to the attack in Kashmir.

Already India has suspended the landmark 1960 Indus Water Treaty, a key water-sharing agreement covering rivers that overlap both countries. Pakistan’s Minister of State for Law and Justice told Reuters that Islamabad plans on challenging India’s suspension of the treaty and is raising the issue with the World Bank.

Pakistan said the impediment to the free flow of water would constitute an act of war.

Supporters of the Pakistan Murkazi Muslim League party protest against the suspension of water-sharing treaty by India with Pakistan, in Lahore, Pakistan on Thursday, April 24. (AP/K.M. Chaudary)

The rivalry between India and Pakistan dates back to the partition of the former British colony of India in 1947, with the establishment of Muslim-majority Pakistan and Hindu-majority India. The partition plan also provided the contested regions of Jammu and Kashmir with the opportunity to choose if they wanted to join either newly established nation. Kashmir ultimately decided to join India in exchange for help against invading Pakistani militias, with India and Pakistan fighting three wars over the territory since 1947.

India and Pakistan have an estimated combined 342 nuclear warheads, according to the Arms Control Association.