New Delhi: In a sweeping response to the deadly terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam, India on Wednesday announced a series of strong diplomatic and strategic measures against Pakistan, including the immediate closure of the Wagah-Attari border.

Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri confirmed during a press briefing that the Integrated Checkpost (ICP) at Attari will be closed with immediate effect. “Those who have crossed over with valid endorsements may return through that route before May 1, 2025,” Misri added, effectively giving a narrow window for existing travelers to return.

The Wagah-Attari border, located near Amritsar in Punjab, has long served as a symbolic and functional channel for limited trade and people-to-people contact between India and Pakistan. It is the only road crossing open to civilian passengers. With the new order, even this narrow avenue of engagement has now been sealed.

The border closure is hugely symbolic -- it is on the Attari-Wagah crossing that crowds gather each evening to cheer on their nation's soldiers as they goose-step in a chest-puffing theatrical ritual symbolising the countries' rivalry.

The daily border ritual, which began in 1959, has largely endured, surviving innumerable diplomatic flare-ups and military skirmishes.

Adding to the unprecedented measures, India has also suspended the decades-old Indus Water Treaty with Pakistan, a move with potentially severe consequences for water access across the border. With the suspension, India is set to block the flow of water from the Indus River and its tributaries — Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas, and Satluj — which collectively supply water to tens of millions in Pakistan.

India has also cancelled all visa clearances for Pakistani nationals with immediate effect. The Centre has also declared all Pakistani military attachés stationed in the country as persona non grata, Vikram Misri said on Wednesday.

Terrorists opened fire in Pahalgam on Tuesday afternoon, killing 26 people, mostly tourists. The Resistance Front (TRF), a proxy of the banned Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), claimed responsibility for the attack, the deadliest since Pulwama. 

These sweeping steps mark a significant escalation in India’s diplomatic stance towards Islamabad, as anger grows over Pakistan-based terror networks being linked to the latest attack.