Pakistan closes airspace, threatens to end Simla Pact amid strained ties

Pakistan on Thursday closed its airspace to Indian airlines, suspended all trade with India, including through third-party countries, and threatened to suspend bilateral pacts such as the Simla Agreement in response to a slew of punitive measures announced by New Delhi over the Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 people.

Pakistan’s deputy prime minister Ishaq Dar rejected India’s decision to suspend the Indus Waters Treaty of 1960 and told a media briefing that any stopping of river waters “will be tantamount to an act of war”. “Any encroachment, suspension or stopping of water will not be acceptable. We are prepared for any action, including keeping in abeyance bilateral treaties like the Simla Agreement,” he said.

Most of the steps unveiled by Pakistan after a meeting of the National Security Committee chaired by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in Islamabad were tit-for-tat reactions to measures announced by India on Wednesday.

India’s punitive measures, including suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty, closing the only operational land border crossing at Attari, and expulsion of Pakistani military attaches, were finalised by the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) a day after terrorists gunned down the tourists in a scenic meadow, marking the worst attack on civilians in Jammu and Kashmir in two decades.

A statement from the Pakistan Prime Minister’s Office said Pakistani airspace “will be closed with immediate effect for all Indian owned or Indian operated airlines”, and all trade with India, “including to and from any third country through Pakistan”, will be suspended forthwith.

The statement said the Indus Waters Treaty has no provision for unilateral suspension, and said any attempt to stop or divert the flow of water allocated to Pakistan or usurpation of the rights of the lower riparian state will be an act of war and “responded with full force across the complete spectrum of national power”.

The statement said Pakistan will “exercise the right to hold all bilateral agreements with India including but not limited to Simla Agreement in abeyance”, till New Delhi desists from “fomenting terrorism inside Pakistan; trans-national killings; and non-adherence to international law and UN Resolutions on Kashmir”.

In response to India’s expulsion of three Pakistani military attaches, Pakistan declared the Indian defence, naval and air advisors in Islamabad “persona non grata” and directed them to leave by April 30. The support staff of the advisors too were expelled.

Pakistan said the strength of the Indian high commission in Islamabad will be reduced to 30 by April 30 and the Wagah border post, located opposite Attari in India, will be closed. All cross-border transit from India through this route will be suspended and Indians who crossed via the post should return by April 30.

The Pakistani side also suspended all visas issued to Indians under the Saarc Visa Exemption Scheme (SVES), with the exception of Sikh pilgrims. Indians in Pakistan with such visas were directed to leave in 48 hours.

These too mirrored the decisions taken by India on Wednesday.

“The National Security Committee underscored that Pakistan and its armed forces remain fully capable and prepared to defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity against any misadventure, as clearly demonstrated by its measured yet resolute response to India’s reckless incursion in February 2019,” the statement said, referring to tit-for-tat air strikes carried out by the two sides after the Pulwama suicide bombing that killed 40 Indian troops in 2019.

The statement described India’s punitive measures as “unilateral, unjust, politically motivated, extremely irresponsible and devoid of legal merit” and contended that Kashmir “remains an unresolved dispute”. The statement raked up India’s abrogation of Jammu and Kashmir’s statehood, persecution of minorities, and the passage of the Waqf (Amendment) Act while condemning all forms of terrorism.

“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 said.

To be sure, India has identified three Pakistani nationals as responsible for the attacks and also presented signal intelligence linking the attackers to safe houses in Pakistan. Pakistan-based terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba’s proxy, the Resistance Front (TRF), has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Dar, who is also the foreign minister, said at the media briefing that Pakistan was taking “tit for tat actions” in response to India’s measures and the country’s armed forces are ready for any eventuality. “Whatever they do to us, will be done to them,” he said.

He questioned India’s allegation about “cross-border linkages” to the attack in Pahalgam and claimed it could have been carried out by “freedom fighters”. Asked about the possibility of kinetic action by India, Dar replied: “If anyone thinks they can take kinetic action, they have the wrong impression.”

Dar said Pakistan is in touch with the World Bank, which brokered the Indus Waters Treaty, and contended that the pact can be ended or amended only by consensus.

Pakistan’s defence minister Khawaja Asif, who also addressed the media briefing, mounted a direct attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, calling him a “certified terrorist”, and alleged India was sponsoring terrorism in Pakistan by backing the Balochistan Liberation Army and Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan. Asif didn’t offer any proof to back up his allegations.

“India is already fighting a low intensity conflict against Pakistan. If they seek to increase the scale, we will respond and we won’t come under international pressure,” Asif said, speaking in Urdu.

Asif also claimed Pakistan has information that India was preparing for “an all-out war of terrorism on Pakistani cities”. He said, “We are fully prepared for this wave of terrorism, it will be tit for tat. If our citizens are not safe in our cities, if there are attacks on them, then Indian citizens too will not be safe.”

On Thursday evening, Pakistan foreign secretary Amna Baloch briefed foreign diplomats on the situation and rejected what she said was an “Indian misinformation campaign”. She cautioned “against Indian attempts to escalate tensions and reaffirmed Pakistan’s readiness to counter any misadventure”, an official statement said.

There was no immediate response to Pakistan’s action from Indian officials.