India to cut Pakistan’s water

In one of the strongest actions in recent years, New Delhi IS determineD to isolate the terrorist neighbour on global platform

People under the banner of 'Save India' stage a protest against the Pahalgam terror attack in New Delhi on Wednesday. Pic: PTI

New Delhi: In a strong response to Pakistan sponsored terrorist attack in Jammu-Kashmir’s Pahalgam that killed at least 26 people, India on Wednesday “held in abeyance” the Indus Waters Treaty and downgraded diplomatic relations with Pakistan.

India has expelled diplomats and defence forces officials from Pakistan High Commission in Delhi, and cancelled all visas granted to Pakistan nationals, asking them to leave in 48 hours.

Briefing reporters, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said that the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) met on Wednesday evening under the Chairmanship of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“The CCS was briefed in detail on the terrorist attack on April 22, 2025, in Pahalgam, in which 25 Indians and one Nepali citizen were killed. A number of others sustained injuries. In the briefing to the CCS, the cross-border linkages of the terrorist attack were brought out. It was noted that this attack came in the wake of the successful holding of elections in the Union Territory and its steady progress towards economic growth and development,” he said.

“The CCS reviewed the overall security situation and directed all forces to maintain high vigil. It resolved that the perpetrators of the 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,” he said.

Faced with the deadliest terror attack on civilians in Jammu and Kashmir — the biggest in India since the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai — New Delhi was looking at a bouquet of options, and it decided to name Pakistan as the perpetrator.

• 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 Check Post, Attari, will be closed with immediate effect. Those who have crossed over with valid endorsements may return through that route before May 1, 2025.

• Pakistani nationals will not be permitted to travel to India under the SAARC Visa Exemption Scheme (SVES). Any SVES visas issued in the past to Pakistani nationals are deemed cancelled. Any Pakistani national currently in India under SVES 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/Air Advisors from the Indian High Commission in Islamabad. These posts in the respective High Commissions are deemed annulled. Five support staff of the Service Advisors will also be withdrawn from both High Commissions.

• The overall strength of the High Commissions will be brought down to 30 from the present 55 through further reductions, to be effected by May 1, 2025.

All-party meeting today

The government will be calling an all-party meeting on Thursday in the wake of the terror attack in Pahalgam, official sources said.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh is likely to chair it, they said.

Home Minister Amit Shah and Singh are speaking to leaders of various parties on the issue, the sources said.

Several opposition parties, including the Congress, had demanded that the government should convene a meeting of all parties over the issue.

Singh is expected to brief leaders of different parties on the brutal terror attack.

The terrorists

Giving a face to the terrorists behind the massacre, security agencies released the sketches of three of the five men suspected to be involved in the terror attack. They are all Pakistanis, officials said, identifying them as Asif Fauji, Suleman Shah and Abu Talha.

They had code names -- Moosa, Yunus and Asif -- and were involved in terror-related incidents in Poonch.

Prepared with the help of survivors, the pencil sketches were in black and white. From the line drawings, they appear to be young and have beards.

The Resistance Front (TRF), a shadow outfit of the banned Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terror group, claimed responsibility for the attack on Tuesday afternoon.

The attack comes barely a week after Pakistan Army chief Asim Munir announced in Islamabad that it will continue to extend support to the so-called Kashmir cause. Significantly, LeT cadres earlier this month issued provocative anti-India slogans in Rawalakot on April 18, officials said.