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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 Al Jazeera, “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.
Reporting from Haripur in Pakistan, Al Jazeera’s Kamal Hyder said it was a “tit-for-tat response”.
“All eyes will be on what India does next, because Modi has been saying that there will be a swift response. He’s meeting his party leaders in India, so that will be important,” he said.
“But Islamabad has not minced its words, either, by saying that any military response will be met reciprocally from the Pakistani side as well,” he added.
‘Please don’t think that Kashmiris are your enemies’
Pakistan and India both claim Kashmir in its entirety but administer parts of it separately.
On Thursday, Police in India-administered Kashmir released sketches and announced a reward for information about three suspects believed to be behind Tuesday’s deadly attack.
A reward of 2 million Indian rupees (about $23,000) has been offered for any information leading to their capture.
Police say the suspects are members of the group Lashkar-e-Taiba; they have been named as Hashim Musa (alias Sulaiman), Ali Bhai (alias Talha Bhai), and Adil Hussain Thoker.
According to police, Musa and Bhai are believed to be Pakistani nationals.
Thoker, also known as Adil Guree, is a resident of Kashmir, and investigators have linked him to the attack based on testimony from the wife of one of the victims.
A senior police official told Al Jazeera that more than 1,500 people have been detained for questioning in connection with the continuing investigation.
The region remains tense with heightened security and unease widespread across the region, two days after the Pahalgam attack.
But shops and businesses began reopening following a shutdown observed in protest yesterday.
Local trade bodies and political leaders had called for the shutdown as they took to the streets to condemn the deadly assault.
“Everything looks gloomy. We don’t know what the future holds for this place,” said Mehraj Ahmad Malik, who sells dried fruits in the main city of Srinagar.
“Everything was abuzz two days ago, and now there is fear and silence.”
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has expressed deep sorrow over the recent attack in Pahalgam, acknowledging the loss of “25 guests who came here to enjoy their vacation” and praising a resident who “sacrificed his life to save the people there”.
“The people of Kashmir came out and voiced the same thing: that they were not involved and the attack was not for them,” he told India’s ANI news agency.
“Please don’t think that Kashmiris are your enemies; we are not guilty of it … We have also suffered for the last 35 years.”
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