India Does A Pakistan On Pakistan, Seals Border, Suspends Diplomatic Time In Response To Pahalgam

<p><strong>Pahalgam Attack</strong>: From giving marching orders to the military, naval and air advisors deployed in the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi to ordering reduction of diplomatic staff from 55 currently to 30, India on Wednesday announced five key decisions with respect to its bilateral ties with Islamabad, in response to the terrorist attacks that took place in Pahalgam in South Kashmir&rsquo;s Anantnag district.</p>
<p>While declaring the defence, naval and air advisors in the Pakistani High Commission as &ldquo;persona non grata&rdquo;, New Delhi gave them seven days to leave India.</p>
<p>”India will be withdrawing its own Defence/Navy/Air Advisors from the Indian High Commission in Islamabad. These posts in the respective High Commissions are deemed annulled. Five support staff of the Service Advisors will also be withdrawn from both High Commissions,&rdquo; Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said at a late night news conference.</p>
<p>Defence and Army Adviser Brig. Mudassir Saeed, Air Adviser Gp. Captain Tahir Mahmood Anjum and Naval Adviser Capt. Rameez Niaz have been given time till April 30 to leave the country.</p>
<p>Misri was briefing the media on the decisions taken by the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) at a meeting that lasted more than two hours and was chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who had to cut short his official visit to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia earlier in the day. Modi returned to New Delhi Wednesday morning.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, US Vice President JD Vance, who was to leave for the United States early morning on Thursday, April 24, departed for Washington on Wednesday afternoon after visiting the Taj Mahal in Agra with his family.</p>
<p>The overall strength of both the high commissions of India and Pakistan will be brought down to 30 from the present 55 by May 1, Misri announced. Diplomatic staff was reduced in 2019 too when diplomatic ties were downgraded by Pakistan in the wake of Article 370 abrogation. The number of staff deployed in both the missions were over 100.</p>
<p>It was under former Prime Minister <a title=”Imran Khan” href=”https://news.abplive.com/topic/imran-khan” data-type=”interlinkingkeywords”>Imran Khan</a> that Islamabad took a call to downgrade diplomatic ties with India and expelled Delhi’s then High Commissioner to India Ajay Bisaria. New Delhi had severely opposed the decision at that time.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, on Wednesday, after India announced the decisions taken by the CCS, Pakistan Prime Minister Mohammad Shehbaz Sharif called a meeting of the National Security Committee on Thursday &ldquo;to respond to the Indian Government&rsquo;s statement of this evening&rdquo;, said their Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar.<strong>&nbsp;</strong></p>
<h2><strong>Severance Of People-to-People Ties </strong></h2>
<p>While bilateral trade with India remains suspended from 2019, India on Wednesday took the drastic decision to even prorogue people-to-people ties.</p>
<p>The Integrated Check Post in Attari will be &ldquo;closed with immediate effect&rdquo;, announced Misri, adding that those who have crossed through that route will have to return before May 1, 2025, even as he said the CCS has decided that Pakistani nationals will &ldquo;not be permitted&rdquo; to travel to India under the SAARC Visa Exemption Scheme (SVES).</p>
<p>Any SVES visas issued in the past to Pakistani nationals stands cancelled and any Pakistani national currently present in India under SVES visa has been given 48 hours to leave the country and go back.</p>
<p>These decisions came within six months of the historic visit of External Affairs Minister <a href=”https://news.abplive.com/news/india/sco-summit-2024-no-request-for-india-pakistan-bilateral-talks-from-delhi-or-islamabad-says-pakistan-1724034″ data-saferedirecturl=”https://www.google.com/url?q=https://news.abplive.com/news/india/sco-summit-2024-no-request-for-india-pakistan-bilateral-talks-from-delhi-or-islamabad-says-pakistan-1724034&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1745519975583000&amp;usg=AOvVaw2yBTkJdgwyiHSc6qStHe1M”>S. Jaishankar to Pakistan</a> to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Council of Heads of Government meeting, which was hosted by Islamabad in October 2024. Both countries continue to remain key members of the China-led SCO.</p>
<p>Last October, it seemed that both countries were trying to give <a href=”https://news.abplive.com/news/india/jaishankar-in-islamabad-india-pakistan-move-a-tad-closer-thawing-of-ties-looks-possible-1724725″ data-saferedirecturl=”https://www.google.com/url?q=https://news.abplive.com/news/india/jaishankar-in-islamabad-india-pakistan-move-a-tad-closer-thawing-of-ties-looks-possible-1724725&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1745519975583000&amp;usg=AOvVaw0csiXH1zdHDvZIa3-7lfbb”>peace a chance</a> after a gap of eight years even as Jaishankar visited Pakistan and even met Dar during the official SCO dinner reception.</p>
<p>On March 20 this year, the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi held its National Day celebrations by hosting a gala reception, which was attended by the who&rsquo;s who of India, though there was no representation from the Indian government.</p>
<h2><strong>Suspension Of Indus Water Treaty</strong></h2>
<p>The CCS, which was also attended by National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, Wednesday also decided to temporarily disuse the Indus Water Treaty of 1960.</p>
<p>&ldquo;The Indus Waters Treaty of 1960 will be held in abeyance with immediate effect, until Pakistan credibly and irrevocably abjures its support for cross-border terrorism,&rdquo; Misri said at the media briefing where he did not take any questions.</p>
<p>Brokered by the World Bank, the IWT of 1960 was signed between both countries in order to share the waters of the Indus River system between the two countries. It grants India control over the eastern rivers (Beas, Ravi, and Sutlej) and Pakistan control over the western rivers (Indus, Jhelum, and Chenab). India is permitted to use the waters of the eastern rivers for irrigation, power generation, and other purposes.</p>
<p>The main tenets of the treaty was to promote cooperation and prevent conflicts over water resources between India and Pakistan, and also to ensure the equitable distribution of water resources from the Indus River system.</p>
<p>There are ongoing discussions regarding the renegotiation of the IWT even as both countries are at odds over potential changes, risking the stability of the Permanent Indus Commission established under the treaty. There are also indications that disputes related to the treaty may be brought before international arbitration, with hearings expected to take place at The Hague &mdash; something that has happened in the past also.</p>
<p>The suspension of the IWT could have significant implications for water management and relations between India and Pakistan, as it will adversely affect millions of people who rely on the Indus River system for agriculture and livelihoods.</p>
<p>India had taken actions against the IWT in 2016 too when Prime Minister Modi famously said &ldquo;blood and water cannot flow together&rdquo; post the attack on Uri Army camp.</p>
<p><em>Nayanima Basu is a senior independent journalist.</em></p>