Thousands of Indians are sending a message of support to Pakistan on Twitter in the wake of the Taliban school massacre in Peshawar.

The hashtag #IndiawithPakistan has taken off in a matter of hours, despite the long history of antagonism between the two countries.

The idea was spawned by Tehseen Poonawalla, an entrepreneur and newspaper columnist from Delhi, who was in the gym when the news about the attack started playing on the television channels he was watching.

"The visuals were horrific and I was getting updates from social media as well," he told BBC Trending. "Yesterday, everyone was moved by the hashtag [#Illridewithyou] which came up after the attack in Australia. And I thought it was time for India to stand up and express their support."

He sent the first tweet with the hashtag #IndiawithPakistan at 0816 GMT. Within six hours, the hashtag has been used 8,000 times and the number was growing rapidly.