This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . The next check for changes will be

You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/apr/24/india-pakistan-summons-kashmir-attack

The article has changed 7 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 0 Version 1
India summons top Pakistani diplomat after Kashmir attack kills 26 – reports India summons top Pakistani diplomat after deadly militant attack in Kashmir
(about 2 hours later)
India has reportedly summoned the top diplomat from Pakistan’s embassy to give notice that all defence advisers in its mission are persona non grata Tensions escalate as Delhi announces series of measures to downgrade ties with Islamabad
India has summoned Pakistan’s top diplomat in New Delhi, local media reported on Thursday, a day after it announced measures to downgrade ties with Islamabad over a deadly militant attack in Kashmir. India has summoned Pakistan’s top diplomat in Delhi after announcing a series of measures to downgrade ties with Islamabad after a deadly militant attack in Kashmir, an Indian diplomatic source has told the Guardian. Local media carried similar reports.
A day after suspected militants killed 26 men at a tourist destination in Kashmir – in the worst attack on civilians in the country in nearly two decades – Indian foreign secretary Vikram Misri said there was cross-border involvement in the attack and that New Delhi would suspend a six-decade old river-sharing treaty, as well as close the only land crossing between the neighbours. Saad Ahmad Warraich, the charge d’affaires at the Pakistan embassy, was summoned late on Wednesday night by the ministry of external affairs, according to a senior ministry official who was not authorised to speak to the media.
India will also pull out its defence attaches in Pakistan and reduce staff numbers at its mission in Islamabad to 30 from 55, Misri said. Warraich, Pakistan’s highest-ranking diplomat in Delhi, was summoned after India closed a key land border with Pakistan, suspended a water-sharing treaty, and barred Pakistani citizens from entering under a visa exemption scheme. These steps followed Tuesday’s militant attack in Kashmir, which killed 26 tourists.
The summons gave notice that all defence advisers in the Pakistani mission were persona non grata and given a week to leave, one of the measures Misri announced on Wednesday. The late-night summoning of Pakistan’s top diplomat reflected India’s “anguish” over the attack, the official said. “We raised our concerns and formally notified the measures India has taken in the wake of the terror attack.”
On Wednesday, India also announced it would withdraw its defence attaches from Pakistan, reduce its mission staff in Islamabad from 55 to 30 and declare Pakistan’s defence personnel persona non grata.
According to the diplomatic source and local media, the Pakistani diplomat was informed that all defence advisers at the country’s mission in New Delhi had been declared persona non grata and were expected to leave within a week.
India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, has called for an all-party meeting with opposition parties on Thursday, to brief them on the government’s response to the attack.India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, has called for an all-party meeting with opposition parties on Thursday, to brief them on the government’s response to the attack.
In Islamabad, prime minister Shehbaz Sharif was scheduled to hold a meeting of the national security committee to discuss Pakistan’s response, foreign minister Ishaq Dar said in a post on X. In Islamabad, the prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, was scheduled to hold a meeting of the national security committee to discuss Pakistan’s response, the foreign minister, Ishaq Dar, posted on X.
The Indus water treaty, mediated by the World Bank, splits the Indus River and its tributaries between the neighbours and regulates the sharing of water. It had until now withstood wars between the neighbours.The Indus water treaty, mediated by the World Bank, splits the Indus River and its tributaries between the neighbours and regulates the sharing of water. It had until now withstood wars between the neighbours.
India would hold the treaty in abeyance, Misri said. India would hold the treaty in abeyance, the Indian foreign secretary, Vikram Misri, said.
Diplomatic ties between the two nuclear-armed rivals were weak even before the latest measures were announced, as Pakistan had expelled India’s envoy and not posted its own ambassador in New Delhi after India revoked the semi-autonomous status of Kashmir in 2019. Diplomatic ties between the two nuclear-armed rivals were weak even before the latest measures were announced, as Pakistan had expelled India’s envoy and not posted its own ambassador in Delhi after India revoked the semi-autonomous status of Kashmir in 2019.
Tuesday’s attack is seen as a setback to what Modi and his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party have projected as a major achievement in revoking the special status that Jammu and Kashmir enjoyed, and bringing peace and development to the long-troubled Muslim-majority region. Indian security forces fanned out across the Himalayan region of Kashmir on Wednesday as the army and police launched a massive manhunt for the perpetrators of the attack.
Amid rapidly rising tensions in the region, which has been riven by militant violence since the start of an anti-Indian insurgency in 1989, survivors said the militants had asked men they had rounded up to recite Islamic verses before executing those who could not.
A little-known militant group, the Kashmir Resistance, claimed responsibility for the attack. Posting on social media, it expressed discontent that more than 85,000 “outsiders” had been settled in the region, spurring a “demographic change”.
Tuesday’s attack is seen as a setback to what Modi and his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata party have projected as a huge achievement in revoking the special status that Jammu and Kashmir enjoyed, and bringing peace and development to the long-troubled Muslim-majority region.
Reuters contributed to this report