Cross-border links to Pahalgam attack: India downgrades diplomatic ties with Pak; suspends Indus Water Treaty
Public Lokpal
April 24, 2025
Cross-border links to Pahalgam attack: India downgrades diplomatic ties with Pak; suspends Indus Water Treaty
NEW DELHI: India on Wednesday downgraded diplomatic ties with Pakistan and announced a raft of measures, including expulsion of Pakistani military attaches, suspension of the Indus Water Treaty of 1960 and immediate shutting down of the Attari land-transit post in view of the cross-border links to the horrific Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 civilians.
A day after the brazen attack, the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS), under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, firmed up five specific retaliatory measures against Pakistan, directed the security forces to maintain "high vigil" and vowed to bring the perpetrators of the crime to justice.
At a late evening media briefing, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri, announcing the decisions, said the overall strength of the Pakistani and Indian high commissions will be brought down to 30 from the present 55 through further reductions, to be effected by May 1.
The foreign secretary said Pakistani nationals will not be permitted to travel to India under the SAARC visa exemption scheme (SVES) and any Pakistani national currently in India under it SVES visa has 48 hours to leave India.
Misri said the cross-border linkages to the Pahalgam attack were "brought out" in a briefing to the CCS following which it decided to take the measures against Pakistan.
The new retaliatory actions shut down the few existing diplomatic mechanisms between the two sides taking bilateral relations to yet another new low.
The foreign secretary, announcing the five retaliatory measures, said that "the defence, military, naval and air advisors in the Pakistani High Commission in New Delhi are declared persona non grata" and 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, he said.
"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 Five support staff of the service advisors will also be withdrawn from both high commissions," he said.
Pakistani nationals will not be permitted to travel to India under the SAARC Visa Exemption Scheme (SVES) and any such visas issued in the past to Pakistani nationals are deemed cancelled, Misri said.
The CCS was briefed in detail on the attack, in which 25 Indians and a Nepali citizen were killed, the foreign secretary who attended the meeting along with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Home Minister Amit Shah and NSA Ajit Doval, said.
The foreign secretary said the CCS resolved that the perpetrators of the Pahalgam attack would be brought to justice and their sponsors held to account.
The CCS that lasted for two-and-half hours decided to close the Integrated Check Post at Attari with immediate effect. It is the only operational land border crossing between the two countries.
The CCS decided that 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, he said.
The Indus Waters Treaty, brokered by the World Bank to share the waters of cross-border rivers, is considered to be the most durable pact between the two sides.
On closing of the Integrated Check Post at Attari, Misri said those who have crossed over with valid endorsements may return through that route before May 1.
What suspension of the Treaty means
The Indus Waters Treaty, signed on September 19, 1960 between then PM Jawaharlal Nehru and Pakistan President Field Marshal Ayub Khan, allocated the western rivers — Indus, Jhelum, and Chenab — to Pakistan and the eastern rivers — Ravi, Beas, and Sutlej — to India.
India, the upper riparian state, can stop sharing water data immediately, but stopping water to Pakistan cannot be immediate as we are in no position to do so. Importantly, it though leaves the threat hanging over Pakistan's heads.
PTI