Relations between India and Pakistan are cratering following a deadly attack in the disputed Himalayan region of Jammu and Kashmir that left more than two dozen tourists dead, raising fears of military escalation between the nuclear-armed rivals.

India announced a raft of measures to downgrade its ties with Pakistan on Wednesday, a day after suspected militants killed 26 men at a tourist destination in Kashmir in the worst attack on civilians in the country in nearly two decades.

Tuesday's bloodshed in Pahalgam - where at least 26 tourists were killed in a hail of gunfire - marks the deadliest militant attack in Kashmir since 2019. The victims weren't soldiers or officials, but civilians on holiday in one of India's most picturesque valleys.