Pakistan has announced a collection of retaliatory diplomatic strikes in opposition to India and demanded proof to again up the Indian authorities’s claims that Islamabad was concerned within the Kashmir assault.
Suspected rebels killed at the least 26 folks on Tuesday within the picturesque vacationer resort of Pahalgam within the deadliest such assault in a quarter-century in Indian-administered Kashmir. An announcement issued within the title of The Resistance Entrance (TRF), which is believed to be an offshoot of the Pakistani-based Lashkar-e-Taiba armed group, claimed accountability for the assault.
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi promised in a speech on Thursday to hunt the Pahalgam gunmen to the “ends of the earth”. New Delhi has additionally suspended India’s participation in a water-sharing settlement and sealed its primary land border with Pakistan amongst different retaliatory measures.
On Thursday, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif additionally paused a canal irrigation venture, a day after India withdrew from the Indus Waters Treaty in a transfer that has triggered concern about Pakistan’s water provides.
In a press release launched by his workplace, Sharif mentioned that whereas Pakistan is worried concerning the lack of the vacationers’ lives [in Indian-administered Kashmir], “the Committee reviewed the Indian measures introduced on 23 April 2025 and termed them unilateral, unjust, politically motivated, extraordinarily irresponsible and devoid of authorized advantage.”
“Within the absence of any credible investigation and verifiable proof, makes an attempt to hyperlink the Pahalgam assault with Pakistan are frivolous, devoid of rationality and defeat logic,” the assertion added.
Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif later informed Al Jazeera, “I refute, strongly refute, the allegations levelled by the Indian authorities,” and added that the nation has “no connection” with armed teams working in Indian-administered Kashmir.
Islamabad has additionally introduced the approaching closure of the Wagah border with India, however mentioned it is going to stay open till April 30. All Indian residents, excluding Sikh pilgrims, have been ordered to go away in 48 hours.
Pakistan additionally suspended visas issued to Indians underneath the SAARC programme, decreased the Indian Excessive Fee employees in Islamabad to 30 and closed its airspace to all Indian plane, whereas all commerce actions with India have been suspended.
Reporting from Haripur in Pakistan, Al Jazeera’s Kamal Hyder mentioned it was a “tit-for-tat response”.
“All eyes might be on what India does subsequent, as a result of Modi has been saying that there might be a swift response. He’s assembly his occasion leaders in India, in order that might be necessary,” he mentioned.
“However Islamabad has not minced its phrases, both, by saying that any army response might be met reciprocally from the Pakistani aspect as nicely,” he added.
‘Please don’t assume that Kashmiris are your enemies’
Pakistan and India each declare Kashmir in its entirety however administer elements of it individually.
On Thursday, Police in India-administered Kashmir launched sketches and introduced a reward for details about three suspects believed to be behind Tuesday’s lethal assault.
A reward of two million Indian rupees (about $23,000) has been supplied for any data resulting in their seize.
Police say the suspects are members of the group Lashkar-e-Taiba; they’ve been named as Hashim Musa (alias Sulaiman), Ali Bhai (alias Talha Bhai), and Adil Hussain Thoker.
In accordance with police, Musa and Bhai are believed to be Pakistani nationals.
Thoker, often known as Adil Guree, is a resident of Kashmir, and investigators have linked him to the assault primarily based on testimony from the spouse of one of many victims.
A senior police official informed Al Jazeera that greater than 1,500 folks have been detained for questioning in reference to the persevering with investigation.
The region stays tense with heightened safety and unease widespread throughout the area, two days after the Pahalgam assault.
However outlets and companies started reopening following a shutdown noticed in protest yesterday.
Native commerce our bodies and political leaders had known as for the shutdown as they took to the streets to sentence the lethal assault.
“All the pieces appears gloomy. We don’t know what the long run holds for this place,” mentioned Mehraj Ahmad Malik, who sells dried fruits in the principle metropolis of Srinagar.
“All the pieces was abuzz two days in the past, and now there may be concern and silence.”
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has expressed deep sorrow over the latest assault in Pahalgam, acknowledging the lack of “25 company who got here right here to take pleasure in their trip” and praising a resident who “sacrificed his life to save lots of the folks there”.
“The folks of Kashmir got here out and voiced the identical factor: that they weren’t concerned and the assault was not for them,” he informed India’s ANI information company.
“Please don’t assume that Kashmiris are your enemies; we aren’t responsible of it … We have now additionally suffered for the final 35 years.”
