Pakistan announces retaliatory measures against India after Kashmir attack

Pakistan has announced a series of retaliatory diplomatic moves against India and demanded evidence to back up the Indian government’s claims that Islamabad was involved in the Kashmir attack.

Suspected rebels killed at least 26 people on Tuesday in the picturesque tourist resort of Pahalgam in the deadliest such attack in a quarter-century in Indian-administered Kashmir. A statement issued in the name of The Resistance Front (TRF), which is believed to be an offshoot of the Pakistani-based Lashkar-e-Taiba armed group, claimed responsibility for the attack.

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 also suspended India’s participation in a water-sharing agreement and sealed its main land border with Pakistan among other retaliatory measures.

On Thursday, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also paused a canal irrigation project, a day after India withdrew from the Indus Waters Treaty in a move that has caused concern about Pakistan’s water supplies.

In a statement released by his office, Sharif said that while Pakistan is concerned about the loss of the tourists’ lives [in Indian-administered Kashmir], “the Committee reviewed the Indian measures announced on 23 April 2025 and termed them unilateral, unjust, politically motivated, extremely irresponsible and devoid of legal merit.”

“In the absence of any credible investigation and verifiable evidence, attempts to link the Pahalgam attack with Pakistan are frivolous, devoid of rationality and defeat logic,” the statement added.

Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif later told media, “I refute, strongly refute, the allegations levelled by the Indian government,” and added that the country has “no connection” with armed groups operating in Indian-administered Kashmir.

Islamabad has also announced the impending closure of the Wagah border with India, but said it will remain open until April 30. All Indian citizens, excluding Sikh pilgrims, were ordered to leave in 48 hours.

Pakistan also suspended visas issued to Indians under the SAARC programme, reduced the Indian High Commission staff in Islamabad to 30 and closed its airspace to all Indian aircraft, while all trade activities with India were suspended.