'We Should Be Prepared For Any Move': Pakistan Plans High-Level Meet After India Acts Over Pahalgam Attack

Last Updated:April 24, 2025, 07:26 IST

Pakistan convened a meeting to plan a response, with leaders warning of retaliation if India escalates, after India's suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty, a report claims.

Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif (Photo: PTI)

Soon after India on Wednesday downgraded diplomatic ties with Pakistan in the wake of the Pahalgam terror attack, Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif summoned a session of the Security Committee (NSC) on Thursday to decide on an appropriate response, Pakistan’s Geo News reported.

“A session of the Security Committee will be held under the chair of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif," the report quoted Asif in a statement, adding that decisions will be taken to give “an appropriate response to the Indian steps".

Pakistan’s Defence Minister also, as per the report, warned that “if India takes extreme steps under internal pressure, Pakistan is fully capable of responding".

The report also quoted Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar as describing India’s announcements as “inappropriate and lacking seriousness" and vowing that the country would receive a “fitting response."

INDIA CAN’T SUSPEND INDUS WATERS TREATY, CLAIMS PAKISTAN

Asif also asserted, “India cannot unilaterally suspend the Indus Waters Treaty, as the agreement involves not just Pakistan and India, but other stakeholders as well, including the World Bank," the report stated.

Also speaking to Geo News, former high commissioner of Pakistan to India Abdul Basit said that the Indus Water Treaty can neither be suspended nor terminated unilaterally.

“India cannot immediately stop Pakistan’s water," the report quoted Basit as saying, as he also expressed fear India may take some adverse action against Pakistan.

“We should be prepared, India can make any move," he cautioned.

INDIA’s TOUGH MOVES AGAINST PAKISTAN

Underscoring the “cross-border linkages" of the Pahalgam terror attack, India on Wednesday announced five major measures that also included suspension of the Indus Water Treaty and expulsion of Pakistani military attaches.

As India turned up the heat on Pakistan with what is seen as retaliatory measures after the carnage in Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday that left 26 people, mostly tourists, dead, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh also vowed a “strong response" in the “near future."

Immediate shutting down of the Attari land-transit post was among the measures announced after a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security(CCS).

Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri told a late evening press briefing, “It was noted that this attack came in the wake of the successful holding of elections in the Union Territory (Jammu and Kashmir) and its steady progress towards economic growth and development."

“It (the Cabinet Committee on Security) resolved that the perpetrators of the attack will be brought to justice and their sponsors held to account," he said.

The Resistance Front (TRF), a shadow outfit of the banned Pakistan-based terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), has claimed responsibility for the attack.

News world 'We Should Be Prepared For Any Move': Pakistan Plans High-Level Meet After India Acts Over Pahalgam Attack