India on Wednesday announced a series of measures — including suspending Indus Water treaty with Pakistan, shutting Attari border, closing the Pakistani High Commission in Delhi among other decisions — a day after terrorists shot down 26 tourists in Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir.
The decisions were taken following a Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi that went for more than two hours in the national capital.
Foreign Secretary Vikram Fisri, who announced the measures taken against Pakistan after the CCS meeting, said that India has also decided to recall its diplomats in the Indian embassy in Pakistan and has given one week to Pakistani Embassy in New Delhi to vacate the premises.
“The CCS reviewed the overall security situation and directed all forces to maintain high vigil. It resolved that perpetrators of this attack will be brought to justice and their sponsors held to account. As with the recent extradition of Tahawwur Rana, India will be unrelenting in the pursuit of those who have committed acts of terror or conspired to make them possible,” Foreign Secretary Vikram Misry said during a press briefing on Wednesday.
Misri said that the Indus Waters Treaty of 1960 will be suspended with immediate effect, while the integrated checkpost Attari will also be shut down.
“Recognising the seriousness of this terrorist attack, the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) decided upon the following measures- The Indus Waters Treaty of 1960 will be held in abeyance with immediate effect until Pakistan credibly and irrevocably abjures its support for cross-border terrorism. The integrated checkpost Attari will be closed with immediate effect. Those who have crossed over with valid endorsements may return through that route before 1st May 2025,” he said.
The foreign secretary said that Pakistani nationals will not be permitted to travel to India under the SAARC visa Exemption scheme. He added that any Pakistani national currently in India under SPES visa will be required to leave the country within 48 hours.
“Pakistani nationals will not be permitted to travel to India under the SAARC visa Exemption scheme. Any SPES visas issued in the past to Pakistani nationals are deemed cancelled. Any Pakistani national currently in India under SPES visa has 48 hours to leave India. The Defence, Military, Naval, and Air Advisors in the Pakistani High Commission in New Delhi are declared persona non grata. They have a week to leave India. India will be withdrawing its own Defence, Navy and Air advisors from the Indian High Commission in Islamabad. These posts in the respective High Commissions are deemed annulled,” the foreign secretary added.
The meeting, which went on for two hours, was attended by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, along with National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and senior bureaucrats.
Amit Shah briefed PM Modi on the attack and discussed the measures to be taken in its aftermath. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who is also part of the CCS, could not attend the meeting as she is on her way back from the United States after cutting short her official visit in the wake of the terror attack.
Among those also present at the meeting were Cabinet Secretary TV Somanathan, Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misry, besides the prime minister’s two principal secretaries PK Mishra and Shaktikanta Das.
Prime Minister Modi cut short his official visit to Saudi Arabia on Tuesday and returned to New Delhi early on Wednesday. He held a meeting at the airport soon after his arrival where he discussed the J-K terror attack with Jaishankar and National Security Adviser Ajit Doval.
Foreign Secretary Vikram Mistry was also part of the meeting. Earlier in the day, Amit Shah visited Baisaran in Pahalgam, the site where terrorists struck on Tuesday evening, as well as the hospital where some of the injured were being treated.
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