Pahalgam terror attack: After India’s toughest crackdown, Pakistan moves military near J&K, holds high-level security meet

Social media platform X has been inundated with posts containing screenshots from the flight tracking site Flightradar24.

These images purportedly show major aircraft of the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) departing from the Southern Air Command in Karachi and flying toward northern bases near Lahore and Rawalpindi.

According to India Today, the bases mentioned in these posts are the nearest Pakistani airbases to India’s northern borders.

Two particular flights drew attention:

PAF198: a Lockheed C-130E Hercules transport aircraft

PAF101: an Embraer Phenom 100, a smaller jet often deployed for VIP transport or intelligence-gathering missions

All these claims remain unverified, and neither the Pakistan Air Force nor Indian authorities have issued any official confirmation regarding the alleged aircraft activity.

Pakistan convenes key security meeting after India’s response

In the wake of the Indian government's five-point response to the terror incident in Pahalgam, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif convened a meeting of the National Security Committee.

“Prime Minister Mohammad Shehbaz Sharif @CMShehbaz has convened the meeting of the National Security Committee on Thursday morning 24th April 2025 to respond to the Indian Government’s statement of this evening,” Pakistan Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar posted on X.

Radio Pakistan reported that the committee would deliberate on the internal and external security scenario and “will review response to India’s hastily taken, impulsive and impractical water measures.”

The meeting was expected to include Pakistan’s three services chiefs and key ministers.

On Thursday, PM Modi said the terrorists and their backers will pay unimaginable costs for the attack on innocent tourists in Kashmir's Pahalgam.

Addressing a rally in Bihar's Madhubani, Modi said: "From the soil of Bihar I tell the whole world that India will identify them and punish every terrorist and their backers. We will pursue them to the end of the earth. India's spirit will never be broken by terrorism. Terrorism will not go unpunished."

"Every effort will be made to ensure justice is done," he said, adding that the entire country is grieving the merciless killings.

READ: Modi vows to hunt down terrorists and their backers

India announces sweeping countermeasures

Just hours earlier, India unveiled a barrage of measures in response to the terror attack. During a Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, New Delhi decided to suspend the Indus Water Treaty with Pakistan, expel Pakistani diplomats and defence officials from its High Commission, and immediately close the Integrated Check Post at Attari.

Further, the government announced that Pakistani nationals would no longer be allowed to travel to India under the SAARC Visa Exemption Scheme (SVES). All existing visas issued under the scheme to Pakistani nationals were declared void.

Pakistan terms India’s steps “immature” and “hasty”

Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar, speaking to a private TV channel on Wednesday night, criticised India’s actions.

“India has not given any evidence. They have not shown any maturity in their response,” he said. “This is a non-serious approach. They started creating hype immediately after the incident.”

One of the worst attacks in recent memory

The attack in Pahalgam occurred around 2:30 pm on Tuesday afternoon, when militants dressed in military fatigues opened fire on a group of tourists in Baisaran Valley.

According to official sources, 26 people were killed, including two foreign nationals and two locals, while 10 others were injured.

The Resistance Front (TRF), a known proxy of Lashkar-e-Taiba, claimed responsibility for the massacre.

The group said the attack was a protest against India’s move to grant tens of thousands of domicile certificates to non-locals in Jammu & Kashmir, calling it an attempt to alter the region’s demographics.

In an earlier statement, Pakistan’s foreign ministry condemned the attack and expressed condolences over the loss of lives, asserting that the country opposes terrorism in all forms.