Pahalgam Terror Attack: India has summoned Pakistan’s top diplomat, Saad Ahmad Warraich, to Delhi last night, and handed over the formal Persona non grata note for its military diplomats, according to sources quoted by news agency ANI.
The move came hours after India announced five-point diplomatic sanctions on Pakistan, including suspending the Indus Water Treaty, shutting the Attari border, and downgrading ties in retaliation for a deadly terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam that killed 26 civilians, mostly tourists.
The decision to downgrade diplomatic ties with Pakistan given cross-border links to the Pahalgam terror attack was taken in the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on April 23.
CCS Meeting on Wednesday
Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar attended the CCS meeting, among others.
The Ministry of External Affairs briefed mediapersons on Wednesday about the slew of measures announced in the wake of the terrorist attack.
The deadly attack on April 22 was carried out in the fabled Baisaran meadow of Pahalgam on a day when United States Vice President JD Vance was in India and PM Narendra Modi was on a state visit to Saudi Arabia. Modi cut short his visit and returned to New Delhi on Wednesday morning.
Pakistan Denies Role
Pakistan has, however, denied any role in the Pahalgam terror attack. “Pakistan has nothing to do with it (Pagalgam terror attack),” Defence Minister Khawaja Asif told a local TV channel on April 23.
The Resistance Front (TRF), an offshoot of Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba, is believed to be behind Tuesday’s attack, a claim that Mint has not been able to verify so far. Some reports even suggested that a top Lashkar-e-Taiba commander, Saifullah Kasuri, alias Khalid, is believed to be the ‘mastermind’ of the attack. There has not been any official word on these claims yet.
Asif said that a session of the National Security Committee (NSC) has been summoned on Thursday to decide on an appropriate response to the steps taken by New Delhi post Pahalgam attack, according to Pakistan-based Geo News.
“A session of the National Security Committee will be held under the chair of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif,” said Asif in a statement, adding that decisions will be taken to give “an appropriate response to the Indian steps”.
