Islamabad (TDI):Â A National Security Committee (NSC) meeting is underway under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to mull the situation that developed in the aftermath of the New Delhi’s measures following the Pahalgam attack in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK).
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif convened the meeting to discuss the internal and external security situation and review India’s hastily announced measures.
Lamenting the steps taken by India for “inappropriate and lacking seriousness,” Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said that New Delhi has not provided any evidence linking Pakistan to the recent terror incident.
He said that expressing anger over terror incidents in such a manner is “unjustified”, accusing New Delhi of shifting blame for its internal problems onto Pakistan.
His statement comes against the backdrop of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government’s decision to suspend the Indus Water Treaty and ban the entry of Pakistani citizens after 26 tourists were killed in a terrorist attack IIOJK’s Pahalgam.
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The announcement, made by the Ministry of External Affairs, laid out five steps which India has termed as “decisive response to cross-border terrorism”.
The Indus Water Treaty is a water-sharing deal between Pakistan and India, facilitated by the World Bank. It gives India authority over the three eastern rivers (Ravi, Beas and Sutlej) of the Indus basin while it gives Pakistan control over the three western rivers (Indus, Jhelum and Chenab).
The other steps include the immediate closure of the Integrated Check Post Attari and the issuance of a deadline for Pakistanis to leave the country before May 1, 2025.
Also, Pakistani citizens will not be permitted to travel to India under the SAARC Visa Exemption Scheme and any SVES visas issued in the past to Pakistanis are now deemed cancelled.
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Any Pakistani citizen currently in India under an SVES visa has fourth-eight hours to leave India.
Declaring military, naval and air advisers in the Pakistani High Commission in New Delhi persona non grata, New Delhi has asked them to leave the country within a week while also announcing to withdraw its own defence advisors from the Indian High Commission in Islamabad.
New Delhi will also be reducing its overall strength of the High Commissions to thirty from the present 55 by May 1.
Farkhund Yousafzai is an Associate Editor at The Diplomatic Insight.
