Pahalgam terror attack: Pakistan leadership to meet today to plan response to India's actions

Pakistan's topmost civilian and military officials will hold a key meeting on Thursday (April 24) to plan their response to India's punitive actions against Islamabad after the Pahalgam terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir, the country's defence minister Khawaja Asif said. India has suspended the Indus Waters Treaty with immediate effect, shut the integrated check post at the Attari border, and downgraded diplomatic ties with its neighbour. On Tuesday, 26 people -- mostly tourists from different states of India -- were killed by militants in one of the deadliest such attacks in recent years.

Shehbaz Sharif to chair meet
"A session of the National Security Committee will be held under the chair of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif," Asif said in a statement. The Pakistani minister added that his country will give an "appropriate response to the Indian steps." The meeting in Islamabad will be attended by the chief of all military services and key cabinet ministers, news agency PTI reported.

India's cabinet meeting
Back in India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi returned to Delhi on Wednesday after cutting short his state visit to Saudi Arabia in view of the Pahalgam attack. Upon returning, he chaired a high-level meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security. Besides the punitive measures mentioned above, India has also announced that Pakistani nationals are not allowed to travel to the country under the SAARC visa scheme. Any Pakistani national traveling under such a visa is required to leave India within 48 hours.
Further, all the defence advisers at the Pakistani High Commission in New Delhi have been given one week's time to leave the country.

Cross-border linkages
An Indian government statement said that there were cross-border linkages of Tuesday's terror attack. Earlier, the Resistance Front (TRF), an outfit associated with the banned Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba, had claimed responsibility for the attack in Pahalgam.