Pahalgam terror attack: Latest updates as India vows to hunt down gunmen who massacred 26

India has announced a number of punitive diplomatic measures against Pakistan on Wednesday, accusing Islamabad of supporting “cross-border terrorism” after the deadly attack on civilians in Indian-administered Kashmir. The key measures include: • Suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty: India has decided to hold the Indus Waters Treaty of 1960 in abeyance with immediate effect. • Closure of Attari Border Checkpoint: The Integrated Check Post at Attari has been closed with immediate effect. However, Pakistani nationals who have already in India with valid endorsements can return through this route before May 1, 2025. • Cancellation of SAARC Visa Exemption Scheme for Pakistanis: Pakistani nationals will no longer be allowed to travel to India under the SAARC Visa Exemption Scheme (SVES). Any Pakistani national currently in India under an SVES visa has been given 48 hours to leave the country. • Expulsion of Pakistani Defence Advisers: The Defence Advisers at the Pakistani High Commission in New Delhi have been declared Persona Non Grata and have been instructed to leave India within one week. India will also withdraw its own Defence Advisers from the Indian High Commission in Islamabad. • Reduction of High Commission Staff: The overall strength of both the Indian High Commission in Islamabad and the Pakistani High Commission in New Delhi will be reduced from the current 55 to 30 by May 1, 2025. Indian security forces carried out major search and combing operations on Wednesday, a day after at least 26 people were killed in the region’s deadliest attack on civilians since 2000. Here are the major events of the day as it happened:
India announces crucial decisions
India unveiled several diplomatic measures following the meeting of its Cabinet Committee on Security late Wednesday.

These measures include the suspension of a key water-sharing treaty, the shutting of the main land border crossing between the neighbours and a raft of diplomatic staff reductions, including withdrawing several Indian staff from Islamabad and ordering Pakistanis home.

The CCS meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, took these crucial decisions.
Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said that CCS discussed the cross-border linkages of the attack and decided on a series of steps to give a strong message to Pakistan for its support.

As per the decision, the Indus Waters Treaty of 1960 will be held in abeyance with immediate effect, and the integrated checkpost at Attari will be closed with immediate effect.

“Those who have crossed over with valid endorsements may return through that route before May 1, 2025,” he said.

Pakistani nationals will not be permitted to travel to India under the SAARC visa Exemption scheme. 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.

Defence, Military, Naval, and Air Advisers in the Pakistani High Commission in New Delhi have been declared persona non grata and they have a week to leave India.

The overall strength of the High Commissions will be reduced to 30 from the current 55 through further reductions, to be implemented by May 1, 2025.

Wife bids adieu to officer married 6 days ago
Indian Navy officer Lieutenant Vinay Narwal, who got married just six days ago, was given a heartfelt farewell by his wife Himanshi on Wednesday evening in Haryana’s Karnal town by embracing his coffin wrapped in the Tricolour.

The young officer was laid to rest with full state honours. The 26-year-old Navy officer got married on April 16. He was among 26 people killed in the Pahalgam terrorist attack in Kashmir.

As Lieutenant Narwal’s body reached Delhi earlier in the day, his wife clutched his coffin and broke down in grief.
Anger and tears in Mumbai
Mumbai airport descended into gloom after the dead bodies of four Maharashtra tourists were received by their relatives on Wednesday.

The victims have been identified as Dilip Desle (Panvel) and Sanjay Lele, Hemant Joshi, and Atul Mone (Dombivli).

The relatives of these victims were in a state of shock, there was palpable anger, and they were in tears.

One of the relatives of Desle was insisting that she wanted to see the face of Dilip Desle, but the authorities politely turned her request down.
PM chairs Cabinet Committee on Security meeting
Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) on Wednesday, hours after he returned to the national capital after cutting short his visit to Saudi Arabia.

The meeting was attended by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.
Encounter breaks out in Kulgam
A gunfight between the security forces and the terrorists has broken out in Jammu & Kashmir’s Kulgam district on Wednesday, hours after two terrorists were killed.

Officials said that the security forces surrounded the Tangmarg area in Kulgam after getting intelligence inputs about the presence of terrorists there.
India vows ‘loud and clear’ response
India’s defence minister Rajnath Singh vowed a swift response to those who carried out and planned the Kashmir region’s worst attack on civilians in years.

“Those responsible and behind such an act will very soon hear our response, loud and clear,” Singh said in a speech in New Delhi, a day after gunmen killed 26 men at a tourist hotspot in the contested Himalayan region.

“We won’t just reach those people who carried out the attack. We will also reach out to those who planned this from behind the scenes on our land.”

Singh did not identify those he believes are responsible for the killings, but said that “India’s government will take every step that may be necessary and appropriate”.