New Delhi

India hit back at Pakistan for engineering the Pahalgam terrorist attack in which 26 men were killed in Kashmir by suspending the Indus Water Treaty, cancelling visas of all Pakistani nationals and further downsising diplomnatic relations with Islamabad. The Resistance Force, a front for the Lashkar-e-toiba, a Pakistan-based UN proscribed terrorist outfit, has claimed the responsibility for carnage in Pahalgam.

These decisions were taken at the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi here on April 23. The meeting reviewed the overall security situation in the aftermath of the terrorist strike in Kashmirand directed all forces to maintain high vigil, said Foreign Secretary Vikram Misy.

Attended by Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and senior bureaucrats, in addition to PM Modi,  the meeting – which lasted for two hours – “resolved that perpetrators of this attack will be brought to justice and their sponsors held to account”.

Delhi | Prime Minister Narendra Modi chairs meeting of Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS).

Union HM Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, EAM Dr S Jaishankar and others officials are present. pic.twitter.com/zXv9TohVz3

— ANI (@ANI) April 23, 2025

“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," Mistry told the media.

Recognising the seriousness of this terrorist attack, Mistry said, the CCS decided upon the following measures:

(1) 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.

(2) The integrated check post at Attari will be closed with immediate effect.

(3) Those who have crossed over with valid endorsements may return through that route before May 1, 2025.

(4) Pakistani nationals will not be permitted to travel to India under the SAARC visa exemption scheme.

(5) Any SPES visas issued in the past to Pakistani nationals are deemed cancelled. Any Pakistani national currently in India under SPES visa has 48 hours to leave India.

(6) The Defence, Military, Naval and Air Advisors in the Pakistani High Commission in New Delhi are declared persona non grata. They have a week to leave India. 

(7) India will be withdrawing its own Defence, Navy and Air advisors from the Indian High Commission in Islamabad. These posts in the respective High Commissions are deemed annulled.

During the meeting, which started around 6 PM and ended at around 8.30 PM at the prime minister's 7, Lok Nayak Marg residence, Home Minister Shah briefed the prime minister on the attack.

The CCS was briefed in detail on the terrorist attack on Tuesday in Pahalgam that left 25 Indians and one Nepali citizen dead.

"A number of others sustained injuries. 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," Misri said.

"Strong expressions of support and solidarity have been received from many governments around the world, which have unequivocally condemned this terror attack," he said.

The foreign secretary said 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, he said.

"It was noted that this attack came in the wake of the successful holding of elections in the Union Territory (Jammu and Kashmir and its steady progress towards economic growth and development," he said.

Misri said the CCS reviewed the overall security situation and directed all forces to maintain high vigil.

"It resolved that the perpetrators of the attack will be brought to justice and their sponsors held to account," he said.

"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," he said.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who is also part of the CCS, could not attend the meeting as she is on her way back from the United States after cutting short her official visit in the wake of the terror attack.

Among those also present at the meeting were Cabinet Secretary T V Somanathan, Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misry, besides the prime minister's two principal secretaries P K Mishra and Shaktikanta Das.

"In the wake of the terrorist attack in Pahalgam, chaired a meeting of the CCS at 7, Lok Kalyan Marg," the prime minister said on X.

Prime Minister Modi returned early Wednesday from Saudi Arabia, cutting short his visit. He held a meeting at the airport soon after his arrival where he discussed the J-K terror attack with Jaishankar and National Security Adviser Ajit Doval. Foreign Secretary Vikram Mistry was also part of the meeting.

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Earlier in the day, Amit Shah visited Baisaran in Pahalgam, the site where terrorists struck on Tuesday evening, as well as the hospital where some of the injured were being treated.