Shaken and enraged by the audacious eruption of terror at Pahalgam, the Narendra Modi government hammered five retaliatory nails on Pakistan, leaving no room for doubt that it held Islamabad responsible.

There’s credible reason to believe other reprisal measures for the meadow massacre could be in the works but cannot be spelt out for obvious reasons.

The following decisions were taken at the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) meeting, chaired by Modi:

• The Indus Waters Treaty of 1960 has been kept in abeyance till Islamabad “credibly and irrevocably abjures its support for cross-border terrorism”.

• As part of the diplomatic scaling down, the defence/military, naval and air advisers in the Pakistani high commission in New Delhi have been declared persona non grata. They have been given a week to leave India.

• India will withdraw its defence/navy/air advisers from its high commission in Islamabad. These posts in the respective high commissions are deemed annulled. Five support staff of the service advisers will also be withdrawn from both high commissions.

The overall strength of the high commissions will be brought down to 30 from 55 through further reductions. All these decisions will come into effect from May 1.

• The integrated checkpost in Attari will be closed with immediate effect. Those who have crossed over with valid endorsements will be allowed to return through that route before May 1.

• Pakistani nationals will not be permitted to travel to India under the Saarc Visa Exemption Scheme. Any SVES visas issued in the past to Pakistani nationals are deemed cancelled. Any Pakistani national currently in India under the SVES visa has 48 hours to leave.

A statement issued by the external affairs ministry at the end of the meeting said the CCS took note of the cross-border links of the attack. The NIA on Wednesday began probing the possible security lapses that led to the strike. The government will hold an all-party meeting on Thursday, sources said.

Foreign secretary Vikram Misri read out the statement at a media conference but did not take any questions. The statement said the CCS resolved that the perpetrators of the attack would be brought to justice and their sponsors held to account.

A Kashmiri trader holds a placard during a protest against the attack on tourists, in Srinagar

Citing the extradition of Tahawwur Rana, convicted for his involvement in the Mumbai terror attack, the statement said: “India will be unrelenting in the pursuit of those who have committed acts of terror, or conspired to make them possible.”

Diplomatic relations with Pakistan have been downgraded since August 2019 after Islamabad unilaterally decided to withdraw its high commissioner in India in retaliationto the abrogation of Article 370.

India followed suit and the situation has remained unchanged since.

The CCS reviewed the overall security situation and directed the forces to maintain strict vigil. It also took note of the strong expressions of support and solidarity from several governments around the world.

Earlier in the day, defence minister Rajnath Singh said India would identify andbring to justice not only the attackers but also the masterminds who orchestrated the attack.

“Not just those who perpetrated the attack, but also those who conspired from behind the scenes to commit such nefarious acts on Indian soil will soon get an appropriate response,” he said at an event in Delhi.

He condemned the terror strike as a “religiouslymotivated attack” and asserted that such “cowardly”acts would not go unpunished as “India has a zero-tolerance policy against terrorism”.

Without naming Pakistan, he said: “History is witness to the withering away of nations not due to the action of the adversary, but due to the result of their own misdeeds. I hope people across the border look at the lessons of history more closely.”

During the day, Singh chaired a meeting with the three service chiefs to review the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir.

Singh directed the armed forces to enhance their combat readiness and increase the intensity of anti-terror operations in the Valley, sources said.