On this picture launched by the Prime Minister’s Workplace, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif chairs the assembly of the Nationwide Safety Committee, in Islamabad, Pakistan, Thursday, April 24, 2025.
| Picture Credit score: AP
Pakistan on Thursday closed its air house to Indian airliners and suspended all commerce as a part of its response to India’s actions after the Pahalgam terror assault. It warned towards any “misadventure”, indicating that it expects a navy response from India over Tuesday’s brutal killing of 26 males in Jammu and Kashmir by terrorists belonging to a gaggle linked to the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba.
Observe Pahalgam attack updates on April 24
Pakistan’s authorities additionally matched the selections taken by the Cupboard Committee on Safety chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday, together with closing the Wagah border examine publish, declaring Indian defence, naval and air advisors persona non grata, and downsizing the Excessive Fee from 55 to 30 personnel. As well as, Pakistan additionally cancelled the SAARC visa held by Indians, however made an exception for Sikh pilgrims; officers mentioned the Kartarpur hall to Pakistan will stay open for the current.
These choices had been introduced after a gathering of Pakistan’s Nationwide Safety Council (NSC) in Islamabad, chaired by Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif and together with senior Cupboard members and defence chiefs.
‘Unilateral and unjust’
A press release issued by the Pakistan Prime Minister’s workplace mentioned that the NSC had expressed “concern over the lack of vacationers’ lives” and “unequivocally condemns terrorism in all its kinds and manifestations”, however criticised the measures taken by India in response to the Pahalgam assault as “unilateral, unjust, politically motivated, extraordinarily irresponsible and devoid of authorized advantage”.
Being attentive to India’s determination to place the Indus Water Treaty “in abeyance”, the Pakistan NSC warned that any try and “cease or divert the circulate of water belonging to Pakistan as per the Indus Waters Treaty”, could be thought-about an Act of Battle. It additionally threatened to cancel different bilateral agreements with India, together with the Shimla Accord of 1972, which had transformed the ceasefire line into the Line of Management and rejected any third-party mediation within the Jammu and Kashmir dispute. Pakistan’s assertion, appreciable harsher than anticipated, additionally accused India of “persecuting” Kashmiris and minorities, making a reference to the latest passage of the Waqf Modification Act.
Prepared for navy motion
In feedback indicating that Pakistan anticipates that India’s diplomatic measures could be adopted by navy motion, the NSC mentioned that Pakistan’s armed forces are “totally succesful and ready to defend [Pakistan’s] sovereignty and territorial integrity towards any misadventure”, referring to its aerial response to the Indian Air Drive’s strikes on Balakot in February 2019.
The Ministry of Exterior Affairs didn’t reply to the newest feedback by Pakistan’s authorities, together with the choice to ban all commerce. Within the wake of the Balakot strikes and the modification in Article 370 in 2019, former Pakistan PM Imran Khan had banned bilateral commerce with India, however Pakistan had relaxed the ban in a number of classes together with prescribed drugs, sugar, and different merchandise. In 2024, India-Pakistan commerce had hit a 5-year excessive of $1.2 billion, leaping 127% from 2023.
Revealed – April 24, 2025 05:24 pm IST
