India orders Pakistanis to leave following terrorist attack

NOTE: Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), translated as Army of the Righteous, (or Army of the Pure) is a Pakistani Islamist Salafi jihadist organization. Its primary stated objective is to merge the whole of Kashmir with Pakistan. It has been designated a terrorist group by numerous countries.

LeT’s offshoot The Resistance Front is actively engaged in insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir, and designated as a terrorist organization in India. The group is responsible for attacks on and killings of civilians, including those belonging to religious minority communities such as Kashmiri Hindus, government employees, laborers and business owners, local politicians, and tourists, as well as for several attacks on Indian security forces including local policemen.

(by Arshad R. Zargar, CBS News) New Delhi – In his first public comments since 26 people were killed and many others injured in an attack on Tuesday by suspected Pakistan-based militants in Indian-controlled Kashmir, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, “India will identify, track and punish every terrorist and their backers. We will pursue them to the ends of the earth.”

On Wednesday, India announced it was putting a key river water sharing agreement on hold in response to the attack.  India’s External Affairs Ministry said on Wednesday night that the Indus Water Treaty “will be held in abeyance [suspended] with immediate effect, until Pakistan credibly and irrevocably abjures its support for cross-border terrorism.” The suspension of the 1960 World Bank-brokered treaty would mean India would stop the water supply of Indus River and its tributaries – the Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas, and Satluj – to Pakistan, impacting millions of people in that country.

The decisions were taken by India’s Cabinet Committee on Security, the country’s top defense decision making body headed by the Prime Minister.

“Terrorism will not go unpunished. Every effort will be made to ensure that justice is done. The entire nation is firm in this resolve,” Modi said Thursday.

The brutal attack which took place on Tuesday in the picturesque Pahalgam area of Indian-controlled Kashmir left 26 people dead – 25 of them tourists – and 17 others injured, when suspected militants opened fire on them, according to Indian authorities in the region. The majority of the victims were Hindus.

The brazen attack – one of the worst in Kashmir’s history – at one of its most popular tourist spots, dotted with meadows and surrounded by glaciers, has shocked India and been condemned by leaders around the world.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif (left) and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi

Indian security forces spread out across Kashmir a day after the attack, as police, army and paramilitary forces continued their manhunt for the perpetrators. Many businesses were closed Wednesday to protest the brutal attack on civilians, heeding a call from Kashmiri religious groups and political parties.

A lesser-known militant group called The Resistance Front claimed responsibility for the attack on social media. CBS News cannot independently verify the claim. India media outlets reported the group was backed by Pakistan’s Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT).

In addition to the suspension of the water treaty, India also ordered all Pakistani nationals currently in the country to leave within 48 hours and gave a week to the Military Advisors in the Pakistani High Commission in New Delhi to exit India. India said it will also recall its own military advisors from Islamabad. …

India has also decided to close the Integrated Check Post Attari, a key road link between the two countries.

“Those who have crossed over with valid endorsements may return through that route before May 1, 2025,” the ministry said in a statement.

Kashmir is claimed in full by both India and Pakistan, but each nation has controlled its own portion of the mountainous region for decades.

The scenic Himalayan region has been hit regularly by militant violence since an armed anti-Indian insurgency began in 1989. The simmering conflict has claimed tens of thousands of lives over more than three decades.

Tuesday’s attack at the popular tourist beauty spot came when tourism in the Kashmir region was picking up. The last major attack happened in June 2024, when nine people were killed and 33 injured as [Pakistani terrorists] attacked a bus carrying Hindu pilgrims.

Eight pilgrims were killed and 19 injured in a similar attack in the region in 2017, when militants attacked a bus carrying them back from the famous Amarnath Cave Temple in south Kashmir.

U.S. President Donald Trump pledged his support for India after the deadly attack.

“Deeply disturbing news out of Kashmir,” Mr. Trump wrote on social media. “The United States stands strong with India against Terrorism.”

The attack came as U.S. Vice President JD Vance, along with his wife Usha and their children, paid a largely personal visit to India. Vance met earlier in the week with India’s leader, Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Usha Vance is a practicing Hindu whose parents are from India. [JD Vance is a practicing Catholic].

“I strongly condemn the terror attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir. Condolences to those who have lost their loved ones. I pray that the injured recover at the earliest,” Prime Minister Modi said in a social media post on Tuesday. “Those behind this heinous act will be brought to justice… they will not be spared! Their evil agenda will never succeed. Our resolve to fight terrorism is unshakable and it will get even stronger.”

Leaders from Russia, Ukraine, Israel, Iran, France, Italy and the UAE have also expressed condemnation.

“Pakistan declares the Indian Defense, Naval and Air Advisors in Islamabad persona non grata. They are directed to leave Pakistan immediately,” read a statement released by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s office after he convened a rare national security committee meeting, adding that visas issued to Indian nationals would be cancelled with the exception of Sikh pilgrims.

The statement added that borders would shut, trade would be cancelled and airspace closed to Indian owned or operated airlines].

Published at CBS News on April 24, 2025. Reprinted here for educational purposes only. May not be reproduced on other websites without permission.