Pak evacuates people from border villages, IWT abrogated; Retaliation begins

NEW DELHI: India launched strong retaliatory measures on Wednesday night after Pakistan’s covert role in the Pahalgam terrorist attack became more clear.

Pakistani citizens have been banned from entering India. Diplomatic relations have been downgraded. The Wagah-Attari border in Punjab will be closed. The biggest and most impactful among the lot is the decision to freeze the Indus Water Treaty.

The initial diplomatic retaliation is no certainty of the Indian government walking away from a full-blown military action. Pakistan evacuated people from border villages anticipating an Indian attack.

In the morning, the three armed forces chiefs and Ajit Doval held a two-and-a-half-hour meeting under the chairmanship of Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.

The ministerial security committee, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, took tough decisions. Visas granted to Pakistani citizens will be cancelled. SAARC visas will not be granted. Those in India must leave the country within 48 hours. The military attachés and related staff at the Pakistan High Commission office in Delhi must leave within a week. Their actions are believed to have indirectly helped the terrorists.

Attaches at the Indian High Commission in Islamabad will be withdrawn. The strength there will be reduced from 55 to 30. Those who went to Pakistan via Wagah must return before May 1. The freezing of the water supply agreement from the Indus, Chenab and Jhelum rivers will exacerbate water shortages in an already water-scarce Pakistan.

As world nations declared their support for India, Pakistan came with its usual rhetoric, playing innocent, denying any role in the Pahalgam attack.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who arrived from Saudi Arabia early Wednesday morning, was briefed on the situation by National Security Advisor Ajit Doval at the airport in Delhi.

Home Minister Amit Shah visited Pahalgam and personally assessed the situation. Shah returned to Delhi by Wednesday evening and briefed the Prime Minister on the situation. Modi, Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh, S. Jaishankar, Ajit Doval, Cabinet Secretary T.V. Somanathan, Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar, and Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister Shaktikanta Das were present.

The bodies of the victims were brought to their respective homes after a postmortem at Srinagar Medical College. The body of N. Ramachandran, a native of Edappally, was brought to Nedumbassery at around 8 pm on Wednesday.

Lashkar-affiliated ‘The Resistance Front’ claimed responsibility for the attack, and later, it emerged that Pakistani nationals Asif Fauji, Sulaiman Shah, and Abu Talha were the ones who carried out the violence.

It is learnt that they received local help in Pahalgam. It is learnt that Lashkar deputy commander Saifullah Khalid planned the attack from Pakistan. The police have announced a reward of Rs 20 lakh for information about the terrorists.

• People of Jammu and Kashmir took to the streets shouting slogans against Pakistan and burning Pakistani flags

• Two terrorists were killed in Baramulla by security forces. Encounter continues late into the night in Kulgam, Resistance Front commander surrounded