Thursday, April 24, 2025 | 31 Pages | `5 & for State (+4 pages) `6 Reg.No MCS/048/2021-23; RNI No. 1541/1957 M.p.c.s office Mumbai. PIN 400001 THE FREE PRESS JOURNAL Vol. 68 No. 172 | Leader in E-paper circulation l www.freepressjournal.in ● EDITIONS: ● MUMBAI ● INDORE ● PUNE ● BHOPAL ● NASHIK ● KONKAN ● E-paper ● Member: Audit Bureau of Circulation (July to December 2024) TERROR RIPOSTE | Atari border to be closed, Pak defence attaches ordered to leave, mission size to be reduced to 30 DIPLOMATIC WAR FPJ News Service Pakistan brass to meet today NEW DELHI India has announced five measures as an initial response to the terror attack in Pahalgam on Tuesday that saw the deaths of 26, including a Nepali National. At a Cabinet Committee on Security Affairs meeting that lasted over two hours which the Prime Minister presided, cross border linkages to the attack were brought up for consideration. The meeting noted that the attack came after the successful holding of elections in Jammu and Kashmir. The foreign Secretary Vikram Misri in a short summation of the meetings proceedings announced five steps against Pakistan. He said it was decided that the Indus Pakistan's defence minister Khawaja Asif said on Wednesday that the country's top civilian and military leadership would meet on Thursday to formulate an appropriate response to India's move to suspend the Indus Water Treaty and downgrade diplomatic ties. Waters Treaty would be held in abeyance “till Pakistan stops cross border terrorism.” Second, the Atari border would be closed with immediate effect and those that had crossed over through this border passage were to return to Pakistan before May 1, 2025. Thirdly, Misri announced that Pakistani nationals will not be permitted to travel to India under SAARC Visa Exemption Scheme and that those who had already availed of the visa had 48 hours to return to Pakistan. Fourthly, Misri said that the Defence advisers in the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi were now persona non grata, which means that they no PM Modi shapes tough response Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar NEW DELHI Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who cut short his Saudi Arabia visit following the Pahalgam terrorist attack and avoided Pakistan airspace on the way back to India, chaired a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security on Wednesday afternoon to draw up a response to what he had earlier termed as a “heinous act”. The attack in the picturesque Baisaran area of Pahalgam, which was often referred to as “Mini Switzerland”, had left 26 people, including citizens from 14 states and two other countries, dead. Following the strike, The Resistance Front (TRF), an outfit of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e- Avoid going to Kashmir: US advisory FPJ News Service MUMBAI In the wake of Tuesday’s deadly terror strike in Pahalgam that claimed 26 lives— most of them tourists—the United States on Wednesday issued a travel advisory urging its citizens to avoid travelling to Jammu and Kashmir. “Terrorist attacks and violent civil unrest are possible in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir. Do not travel to this state (with the exception of visits to the eastern Ladakh region and its capital, Leh),” read the advisory published on the official website of the US Embassy and Consulates in India. The advisory warned that violence occurs sporadically in the region, particularly along the Line of Control (LoC) between India and Pakistan, and in popular tourist destinations such as Srinagar, Gulmarg, and Pahalgam. 4Contd on | nation Taiba, had claimed responsibility for it. Modi, who was in Saudi Arabia when the terrorists struck at around 2-30 p.m. at Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir, had curtailed his visit short and flown back home in his Air India One aircraft. However, unlike on Tuesday when he had used the Pakistani airspace for going to Jeddah, on the way back the aircraft avoided it completely for security reasons – and instead flew over the Arabian sea before entering India via Gujarat and then heading north towards Delhi. 4Contd on | nation longer can continue their positions. They have been given a week to leave the country. Misri announced that the posts had been annulled, done away with. He also announced that India would pull back those who have been posted in Islamabad in these positions. 4Contd on | nation SHINDE RUSHES TO SRINAGAR FPJ News Service MUMBAI Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde flew to Srinagar on to expedite the return of tourists from the state who are stranded in Kashmir following a deadly terror attack in Pahalgam, an official said. The attack, which occurred on Tuesday, claimed 26 lives— most of them tourists—sending shockwaves across the country. In a statement, Shinde’s office said his personal visit to Kashmir is expected to accelerate the evacuation process. He departed for Srinagar aboard a private aircraft. Shinde is scheduled to meet the stranded tourists, assess the ground situation, and oversee the logistical arrangements for their safe return, official sources added. Tourist season over even before it began M Saleem Pandit SRINAGAR Pahalgam, once a serene haven for holidaymakers, turned into a zone of grief and chaos as a terrorist attack on Tuesday at Baisaran meadows in Anantnag district claimed the lives of 26 tourists. The massacre, one of the most brutal civilian attacks in recent memory, has triggered a mass exodus from the Kashmir Valley, paralysing its booming tourism sector overnight. The attack, reportedly carried out after confirming the victims' religious identity, sent shockwaves through the Valley. Tourists, many still in disbelief, have begun cutting short their itineraries. Panic gripped Srinagar Airport on Wednesday, with long queues of frightened travellers scrambling for any available ticket out. Sameer Bharadwaj, a tourist MASS CANCELLATIONS, MASS EXODUS AFTER KASHMIR CARNAGE from Delhi, summed up the mood: “We were here to enjoy the beauty of Kashmir, but what happened in Pahalgam has shaken us to the core. We’re heading home immediately.” With the tourism season at its peak, the repercussions are severe. Hoteliers, houseboat owners and travel agents across Kashmir are facing mass cancellations. Fayaz Ahmad, a hotelier in Srinagar, said guests were confined to rooms and those who had planned upcoming visits had started demanding refunds. “We’ve never seen this level of fear,” he lamented. 4Contd on | nation Maha declares `5L aid for Pahalgam victims AGENCIES MUMBAI As the nation reeled from the horror of the terrorist attack in Pahalgam, the governments in various states announced compensation for the victims. The Jammu and Kashmir government declared an ex gratia of Rs 10 lakh for the families of each of those killed in the gruesome massacre. CM Omar Abdullah also announced Rs 2 lakh for those seriously injured, and Rs 1 lakh for those with minor injuries. The Maharashtra govt an- nounced a financial assistance of `5 lakh each for the families of the six tourists from the state who lost their lives and `50,000 each for the four injured. While bodies of the four deceased were brought to Mumbai, two others were sent to Pune. CM Devendra Fadnavis said arrangements have been made for a a special aircraft to bring back the stranded tourists from Maharashtra, and the expenses will be borne by the state government. The state government's efforts to reach out to stranded people evokes responses 308 till Wednesday afternoon. In Bengaluru, Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah said on Wednesday that a compensation of Rs 10 lakh each would be paid to the families of the three tourists from the state who fell to the terrorists' bullets. He also ordered officials to airlift over 40 tourists from the state stuck in Kashmir. West Bengal's CM Mamata Banerjee also assured the families of the three victims from the state of full assistance from her administration.