Hostilities reignite: India, Pakistan announce tit-for-tat measures, sever ties

Visa bans and border shutdowns deepen crisis as families and experts demand answers for  intelligence failures and killing of tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir

NEW DELHI/ISLAMABAD (MNTV) — Diplomatic relations between India and Pakistan have plunged into a fresh and dangerous low, following a deadly militant attack in Pahalgam, Indian-administered Kashmir, that killed 26 people.

Without offering evidence, India squarely blamed Pakistan and has since launched a series of sweeping retaliatory measures, prompting an equally forceful response from Islamabad.

The breakdown in ties has triggered a regional crisis that threatens to unravel decades of bilateral agreements and deepen mistrust between the nuclear-armed neighbours.

In its strongest move yet, India on Thursday revoked all existing visas issued to Pakistani nationals — including those granted for medical treatment — effective from April 27.

Pakistani citizens already in India have been instructed to leave before their visa expiry dates. In addition, Indian citizens have been strongly advised to avoid travelling to Pakistan, while those already there are being urged to return immediately.

Earlier the Indian Ministry of External Affairs also invalidated all visas issued under the SAARC Visa Exemption Scheme (SVES) for Pakistani citizens, giving them a 48-hour window to exit the country.

These moves follow an earlier wave of retaliatory steps by India, including suspending the Indus Waters Treaty, a water sharing agreement, closing the Attari-Wagah border crossing, and expelling Pakistani defence advisors.

Analysts see these as part of a calculated and comprehensive diplomatic offensive aimed at isolating Pakistan internationally.

Pakistan’s response

Meeting under the leadership of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Pakistan’s National Security Committee responded in kind, calling India’s actions an unjustified attempt to deflect blame without evidence.

Expressing sorrow for the civilian lives lost in Pahalgam, the committee declared several retaliatory steps.

Pakistan has ordered the immediate expulsion of India’s defence, naval, and air advisors from the Indian High Commission in Islamabad, with a deadline to leave by April 30.

Additionally, the Indian diplomatic staff in Islamabad is being reduced to 30 members, with all military advisory posts to be annulled.

In a major escalation, Pakistan has shut its airspace to all Indian-owned or Indian-operated aircraft.

This move will force west-bound Indian flights to take longer, more circuitous routes.

Islamabad also suspended all bilateral trade with India, including third-country shipments routed through Pakistan.

The Wagah border has been closed to transit trade — a blow to Indian goods destined for Afghanistan.

India had already closed the same crossing to travellers, escalating the already fragile situation. In further retaliation, Islamabad suspended the elite SAARC visa stickers for eminent Indian citizens and ordered all Indian nationals, except Sikh pilgrims, to leave within 48 hours.

Act of war

Reacting to India’s unilateral suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty — a 74-year-old water-sharing agreement — Pakistan issued a sharp warning: any attempt by India to divert or block water legally allocated to Pakistan would be considered an “act of war.”

Islamabad added it would respond “with full force” if India acted on this front.

More worryingly, Pakistan has indicated it may place all bilateral agreements with India in abeyance — including the historic 1972 Simla Agreement.

It cited India’s “manifested behaviour of fomenting terrorism, conducting cross-border killings, and violating UN Security Council resolutions on Kashmir” as reasons for this possible diplomatic rupture.

Families flee, voices of peace

As high-level diplomatic blows were exchanged, the human toll was also felt. Several Pakistani families began returning home via the Attari-Wagah land crossing on Thursday.

“We had a 45-day visa, but we’re going back early,” said Shaikh Fazal Ahmad, a Pakistani tourist from Karachi. On the Pahalgam attack, he reflected: “Whoever did this was wrong. We want peace — not hatred — between the two countries.”

His sentiments echo a growing frustration on both sides of the border, where civilians often pay the price of state-level hostilities.

While the Indian government has pointed fingers at Pakistan, a growing chorus within India is turning its focus inward. According to preliminary findings reported by the Deccan Chronicle, there were serious intelligence and deployment lapses in the lead-up to the Pahalgam attack.

The Unified Command — comprising top army, police, and intelligence officials under the Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir — had declared the region “normal” and failed to conduct updated threat assessments, even as civilian footfall surged at the tourist site.

Security deployment was alarmingly thin. One of the two Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) companies stationed at Baisaran, the exact site of the attack, had reportedly been reassigned earlier this year. The remaining Quick Action Team took over an hour to reach the area. “Tourist routes had become predictable soft targets,” admitted a security official.

At the funeral of Shailesh Kalathiya, a bank manager killed in the attack, his grieving widow, Shital Kalathiya, publicly confronted Union Minister C.R. Paatil in a moment that has since gone viral on social media.

“There was not a single military man at the tourist spot,” she said through tears.

“There were no medical facilities either. You defame Kashmir, but the problem is your government’s failure to provide security.”

Her words have struck a chord across platforms, with many Indians questioning how such a heavily contested and volatile region could have been left so vulnerable, and why intelligence agencies failed to act on clear warning signs.

With diplomatic, trade, air, and people-to-people ties collapsing under the weight of escalating rhetoric and reactionary policies, analysts warn the fallout may have long-lasting implications.

The Pahalgam attack has not only reignited long-standing animosities between two nuclear-armed nations but also exposed deep vulnerabilities in India’s internal security framework.

The ongoing blame game has left Kashmiris caught in the crossfire — both figuratively and literally — as they face increasing suspicion and vilification in India.

As the situation continues to deteriorate, experts caution that prolonged instability between the two nuclear armed neighbors could lead to serious humanitarian consequences and further entrench the region’s already complex and volatile geopolitics.

For now, peace remains elusive — as mistrust, nationalism, and unaddressed grievances dominate the discourse across South Asia.