Under pressure after India’s strong stand, Pakistan closes airspace for Indian airlines, announces face-saving countermeasures
Islamabad [Pakistan], April 24 (ANI): Pakistan has started to feel the heat after India announced a slew of measures against Pakistan after the horrific Pahalgam terror attack, which resulted in the deaths of 25 Indians and 1 Nepali citizen.
Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif chaired a meeting of the National Security Committee (NSC) on Thursday, where he announced a list of face-saving countermeasures against India.
According to a release from the Pakistan PM’s office, the National Security Council said that any attempt to stop or divert the flow of water belonging to Pakistan as per the Indus Waters Treaty, and the usurpation of the rights of lower riparian will be considered as an Act of War. According to ARY News, Pakistan also decided to approach international forums against this move.
Pakistan also stated that it would exercise its right to hold all bilateral agreements with India, including but not limited to the Simla Agreement, in abeyance. Sharif’s government also decided to close down the Wagah Border Post and close Pakistan’s airspace for all Indian owned or Indian operated airlines.
Earlier in response to the Pahalgam Terror attack, where 26 people were killed, India’s Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said that, in recognition of the seriousness of the terrorist attack, the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) had taken a series of measures against Pakistan
These included five key decisions:
1) The Indus Waters Treaty of 1960 will be held in abeyance with immediate effect
2) The integrated checkpost Attari will be closed with immediate effect
3) Pakistani nationals will not be permitted to travel to India under the SAARC Visa Exemption Scheme
4) 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.
5) India will withdraw its Defence, Navy, and Air advisors from the Indian High Commission in Islamabad. These posts in the respective High Commissions are deemed annulled.
Meanwhile, asserting that India will not rest until “justice" is pursued, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday issued a stern warning in the wake of the Pahalgam terror attack and said that India will “pursue the terrorists to the end of the earth."
Addressing people at National Panchayati Raj Day in Bihar’s Madhubani, PM Modi said that the entire nation is saddened by the brutality with which terrorists killed innocent civilians in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, on April 22.
“On April 22, terrorists killed innocent people of the country in J-K’s Pahalgam… The country is in mourning and in pain following this incident. We stand with the families of the victims. Today, from the soil of Bihar, India will identify, track and punish every terrorist, their handlers and their backers. We will pursue them to the end of the earth. India’s spirit will never be broken by Terrorism. Terrorism will not go unpunished. Every effort will be made to ensure that justice is done. The entire nation is firm in this resolve. Everyone who believes in humanity is on our side. I thank the people of various countries and their leaders, who have stood with us in these times," PM Modi said.
“I want to say in very clear words that these terrorists and those who conspired towards this attack will get a punishment bigger than they can imagine. The willpower of 140 crore Indians will now break the back of the masters of terror," he added.
Earlier, PM Modi observed a moment of silence to pay tribute to those who were killed in the Pahalgam Terrorist Attack, in Bihar’s Madhubani. (ANI)
(The story has come from a syndicated feed and has not been edited by the Tribune Staff.)
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