Pakistan will convene a rare meeting of its National Security Committee to respond to diplomatic measures imposed by India over a deadly attack in disputed Kashmir, the government said.
The committee — composed of senior civil and military officials and summoned only in cases of external threat or major terror attack — will meet on Thursday, deputy prime minister Ishaq Dar, who is also the Foreign Minister, said.
It comes hours after India, without providing any evidence, took a raft of diplomatic measures against neighbour Pakistan on Wednesday, accusing Islamabad of supporting "cross-border terrorism" after a deadly attack on tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir.
The attack by suspected rebels has plunged relations between the nuclear-armed countries to their worst levels for several years, and some fear New Delhi's diplomatic salvo may be only the first in a series of steps — with the potential risk still of military action.
India's measures, including the suspension of a key water-sharing treating and closure of the main land border crossing, come a day after unidentified gunmen opened fire at tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir's Pahalgam area, killing 26 men — all Indian except one Nepali — in the deadliest attack on civilians in the Himalayan region for a quarter of a century.
Tuesday's attack took place in the picturesque town of Pahalgam in the Himalayan mountains, popular with Indian visitors.
Hunt for suspected rebels
Indian police accused rebels of masterminding the attack. The attack hasn’t been claimed by any group so far, and on Wednesday, Indian soldiers were still searching for the gunmen.
Tens of thousands of police and soldiers fanned out across the region and erected additional checkpoints. They searched cars, used helicopters to search forested mountains and in some areas summoned former rebels to police stations for questioning, reports said.
"At least 1,500 people were detained by Indian police across Jammu and Kashmir as part of an investigation into Tuesday's attack," Al Jazeera reported.
A statement issued in the name of Kashmir Resistance, a previously unknown rebel group, claimed responsibility for the attack on social media. The group said Indian authorities had settled over 85,000 "outsiders" in the disputed region and claimed that those targeted on Tuesday were not "ordinary tourists" but "were linked to and affiliated with Indian security agencies."
The group's messages could not be independently verified.
Pakistan called the attack a "false flag" operation orchestrated by India's right-wing government and warned it will make "a tit-for-tat response" to the Indian measures, Dar said.
Pakistan's Defence Minister Khawaja Asif termed the incident as a "false flag operation".
"We cannot ever rule this out, the possibility [that it was a false flag] will be there," he told Pakistani media.
Kashmir dispute
Rebels in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir have been fighting New Delhi's rule since 1989. Many Muslim Kashmiris support the rebels' goal of uniting the territory, either under Pakistani rule or as an independent country.
India insists the Kashmir rebellion is "Pakistan-sponsored terrorism". Pakistan denies the charge, and many Kashmiris consider it a legitimate freedom struggle. Tens of thousands of civilians, rebels and government forces have been killed in the conflict.
Violence has ebbed in recent times in the Kashmir Valley, the heart of anti-India rebellion.
Fighting between government forces and rebels has largely shifted to remote areas of Jammu region, including Rajouri, Poonch and Kathua, where Indian troops have faced deadly attacks.
