Pakistan announced a series of retaliatory diplomatic moves against India, demanding evidence to support the Indian government’s claim that Islamabad is involved in the attack on Kashmir.
The alleged rebels killed at least 26 people in the most deadly attack of a quarter-century Indian-controlled Kashmir on Tuesday at a picturesque tourist resort in Pahargam. A statement issued in the name of the Resistance Front (TRF), considered to be a derivative of the Pakistan-based Lashkar Aetaiba armed group, claimed responsibility for the attack.
In a speech on Thursday, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi promised to hunt Pahargam gunmen at the “end of the Earth.” New Delhi also suspended India’s participation in the water sharing agreement and sealed the main land border with Pakistan, among other retaliatory measures.
On Thursday, Pakistan Prime Minister Shebaz Sharif suspends canal irrigation projects the day after India withdrew from the Indus Waters Treaty in a move that raised concerns about Pakistan’s water supply.
In a statement released by his office, Sharif said he was worried that Pakistan would lose the lives of tourists. [in Indian-administered Kashmir]”The Commission considered the measures announced on April 23, 2025 and called them one-sided, unfair, politically motivated, extremely irresponsible and lacking legal merit.”
“In the absence of reliable investigation and verifiable evidence, attempts to link the Pahargam attack with Pakistan are frivolous and lack the logic of rationality and defeat,” the statement added.
Pakistan’s defense minister, Kawaja Asif, later told Al Jazeera, “I will refute and strongly refute allegations levelled by the Indian government,” adding that it is “not linked” with the armed groups operating in Indian workers in Kashmir.
Islamabad also announced the imminent closure of the Waga border with India, but said it will remain open until April 30th. All Indian citizens except Sikh pilgrims were ordered to depart within 48 hours.
Pakistan also suspended visas issued to Indians under the SAARC programme, reduced the staff of the Indian High Commissioner in Islamabad to 30, and closed airspace on all Indian aircraft while all trade activities with India were halted.
In a report from Pakistan’s Haripur, Kamal Haider of Al Jazeera said it was a “severe response.”
“Because Modi says there’s a quick response. He’s meeting the Indian party leader, so that’s important,” he said.
“However, Islamabad did not engrave that saying that the military response would be fulfilled in a round-trip manner from the Pakistani side,” he added.
“Don’t think Cassimiris is your enemy.”
Pakistan and India both claim to Kashmir as a whole, but they manage some of them separately.
On Thursday, Indian police-controlled Kashmir released a sketch and released a reward for information on the three suspects believed to be behind Tuesday’s fatal attack.
A reward of 2 million Indian rupees (approximately $23,000) is being offered for information that leads to their capture.
Police say the suspect is a member of the group Rashkar Etaiba. They were named Hashim Musa (aka Sulaiman), Ali Bai (aka Tarha Bai) and Adil Hussein Talker.
Police say Musa and Bai are believed to be Pakistani citizens.
Thoker, also known as Adil Guree, is a resident of Kashmir, and investigators linked him to the attack based on testimony from the victim’s wife.
A senior police official told Al Jazeera that more than 1,500 people have been detained to ask questions in connection with the ongoing investigation.
The region remains tense with growing security and anxiety spreading throughout the region two days after the Pahargam attack.
However, after the shutdown observed in yesterday’s protests, shops and businesses began reopening.
Local trade groups and political leaders had called for the closure as they went to the streets to condemn the deadly attack.
“Everything looks dark. We don’t know what the future will be in this place,” said Meraj Ahmad Malik, a store that sells dried fruits in major cities in Srinagar.
“It was all Buzz two days ago, and now there’s fear and silence.”
Jammu and Kashmir Prime Minister Omar Abdullah expressed deep sadness over the recent attacks in Pahargam, acknowledging the loss of “25 guests who came here to enjoy their holidays” and praised the residents who “sacrificed their lives to save people there.”
“The Kashmiri people came out and expressed the same thing. They were not involved and the attack was not for them,” he told India’s ANI News Agency.
“Don’t think of Kasimiris as your enemy. We have not committed any guilt against it… We have been suffering for the past 35 years.”
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