India Downgrades Diplomatic Ties With Pak

New Delhi: In the wake of one of the deadliest terror attacks in the Valley on Tuesday, India has launched a decisive diplomatic offensive. After being briefed on the “cross-border linkages” to Pakistan of the terrorists who carried out the heinous Pahalgam massacre of tourists, the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday decided that the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) of 1960 with Pakistan “will be kept in abeyance with immediate effect until Pakistan credibly and irrevocably abjures its support for cross-border terrorism”. Also, the government will be calling an all-party meeting on Thursday, official sources said.

With the move to pause the IWT, India will now be able to regulate the flow of water from the Indus, Jhelum and Chenab and their tributaries to Pakistan. Announcing the other CCS decisions at a special late-evening ministry of external affairs briefing that reflected a sweeping move of condemnation and consequence, foreign secretary Vikram Misri said that the defence, military, naval and air advisors in the Pakistani high commission in New Delhi have been “declared persona non grata and that they have a week to leave India”.

New Delhi will also 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 Five support staff of the service advisors will also be withdrawn from both high commissions,” Mr Misri said.

In response to statements regarding steps India is taking against Pakistan in the wake of the terrorist attack in Pahalgam, the office of Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has called a special meeting of the National Security Council on Thursday.

The meeting that will be chaired by Mr Sharif will also have foreign office, defence, finance, interior security ministers and officials along with chiefs of Army, Navy and Air Force. The Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) D-G, along with the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee and other top officials, has also been called for the meeting.

Pakistan's defence minister Khawaja Asif said that the top civilian and military leadership will meet on Thursday to formulate an appropriate response to India's move to suspend the Indus Water Treaty and downgrade diplomatic ties.

Announcing what is effectively a further downgrading of diplomatic ties that Islamabad began in 2019, Mr Misri said, “The overall strength of the high commissions will be brought down to 30 from the present 55 through further reductions effective from May 1."

The foreign secretary also said the “integrated check post at Attari (Punjab border) will be closed with immediate effect and that those who have crossed over with valid endorsements may return through that route before May 1. It was also announced that “Pakistani nationals will not be permitted to travel to India under the Saarc visa exemption scheme (SVES) visas” and that “any SVES visas issued in the past to Pakistani nationals are deemed cancelled”. Any Pakistani national currently in India under the SVES visa has 48 hours to leave India, Mr Misri said.

“Recognising the seriousness of this terrorist attack”, the CCS “also reviewed the overall security situation and directed all forces to maintain high vigil”.

Mr Misri said: “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.”

Making India's intention categorically clear, the Prime Minister posted on X, "Those behind this heinous act will be brought to justice...they will not be spared! Their evil agenda will never succeed. Our resolve to fight terrorism is unshakable and it will get even stronger…"

The option of carrying out strikes against terror targets in Pakistan is also believed to be on the table. All eyes are on the Prime Minister's Bihar rally on Thursday, where he is expected to indicate the roadmap ahead.

In the first clear indication of India's likely response to the terror attack, defence minister Rajnath Singh said that India will not only hunt down those who perpetrated the attack but will also trace the people who conspired to carry out the nefarious act on Indian soil while "sitting behind the scenes".

India has also cancelled the leave of the armed forces personnel posted in Kashmir to deal with the situation. India has also put its air assets and armed forces along the LoC on high alert.

Besides, the government will be calling an all-party meeting on Thursday in the wake of the terror attack in Pahalgam and Mr Singh is likely to chair it, official sources said.

Mr Shah and Mr 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.

At the meeting Mr Singh is expected to brief leaders of different parties on the brutal terror attack targeting tourists.

Under the IWT, which was signed by India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and Pakistan's then President Ayub Khan in 1960, water from six rivers — Beas, Ravi, Sutlej, Indus, Chenab and Jhelum — are to be shared between the two countries. Pakistan has been complaining of not receiving enough water and had opted for international arbitration in a couple of cases.

The Indus system of rivers comprises three eastern rivers (Ravi, Beas and Sutlej and their tributaries) and three western rivers (Indus, Jhelum and Chenab and their tributaries). As per the IWT between India and Pakistan, the waters of the eastern rivers were allocated to India, which, as per the treaty, is under obligation to let flow the waters of the western rivers except for uses such as domestic. Both nations are engaged in a dispute relating to the Kishenganga and Ratle projects under the IWT.

“The CCS met this evening under the chairmanship of the Prime Minister…The CCS condemned the attack in the strongest terms and expressed its deepest condolences to the families of the victims and hoped for the early recovery of the injured,” New Delhi said.

It added: “Strong expressions of support and solidarity have been received from many governments around the world, which have unequivocally condemned this terror attack. The CCS recorded its appreciation for such sentiments, which reflect zero tolerance for terrorism. 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."

Union home minister Amit Shah, who landed in the national capital on Wednesday evening from Kashmir, gave a detailed briefing to the CCS, which met at PM residence at Lok Kalayan Marg for two hours, on the emerging security situation in Kashmir after the attack by LeT arm TRF.

The defence minister, external affairs minister S. Jaishankar and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval were present during the meeting amidst widespread anger in the country over the terror attack.

Cabinet secretary T.V. Somanathan, defence secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh, Mr Misri, besides the Prime Minister's two principal secretaries P.K. Mishra and Shaktikanta Das were present in the CCS meeting

The next few days are also crucial as India is expected to carry out more measures against Pakistan. India had carried out a surgical strike inside PoK in 2016 after a terror attack on an Army camp in Uri and also carried out airstrikes on Balakot inside Pakistan in 2019 in response to the terror suicide attack on a CRPF convoy in Pulwama which had killed 40 soldiers.

Earlier in the day, the defence minister reviewed the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir in a nearly two-and-a-half-hour meeting that was attended by Mr Doval, Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Anil Chauhan, Army Chief Gen. Upendra Dwivedi, Navy Chief Adm. Dinesh K. Tripathi, Air Chief Marshal A.P. Singh and the defence secretary.

"Yesterday, in Pahalgam, our country lost many innocent citizens in a cowardly attack by terrorists targeting religion. This extremely inhuman act has plunged all of us into deep grief and pain," the defence minister said. "From this platform, I assure the countrymen that in view of the incident, the government of India will take every step that is necessary and appropriate," he said, adding, "And we will not only trace those who perpetrated this incident. We will also reach out to those who, sitting behind the scenes, have conspired to carry out the nefarious act on the soil of India… The people responsible for such acts will get a strong response in the near future."

Mr Singh directed the armed forces to enhance their combat readiness and increase the intensity of anti-terror operations. In the meeting, the Army Chief presented a detailed overview of the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir, including the deployment of his forces.

Mr Modi returned to New Delhi on Wednesday morning after cutting short his two-day trip to Saudi Arabia. Shortly after landing in Delhi, the Prime Minister held a meeting with Mr Doval, Mr Jaishankar and Mr Misri.