NEW DELHI, Apr 24:
The government on Thursday briefed leaders of various political parties on the Pahalgam terror attack and heard their views at an all-party meeting here.
At the beginning of the meeting, a moment of silence was observed for the victims of the attack.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Home Minister Amit Shah, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju were present from the government’s side.
Leader of the House in Rajya Sabha J P Nadda, Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi were present at the meeting chaired by Singh.
Those who attended the meeting included NCP-SP’s Supriya Sule, NCP’s Praful Patel, AIMIM’s Asaduddin Owaisi, BJD’s Sasmit Patra, TDP’s Lavu Sri Krishna Devarayalu, Shiv Sena’s Shrikant Shinde, AAP’s Sanjay Singh, TMC’s Sudip Bandopadhyay, RJD’s Premchand Gupta, DMK’s T Siva and SP’s Ram Gopal Yadav.
The all-party meeting comes a day after the government announced a host of measures targeting Pakistan in the aftermath of Tuesday’s Pahalgam terror attack, which claimed the lives of
All-Party meeting
26 people, mostly tourists. The decision to call an all-party meeting was taken on Wednesday, with Singh and Shah reaching out to various parties.
It has been a convention to call an all-party meeting following an incident with serious repercussions related to national security, as was seen after the Pulwama terror attack in 2019 or during the India-China standoff in 2020.
It helps present a picture of national unity in moments of crisis and allows opposition leaders to convey their views to the government and be briefed in detail on the official position.
Targeting Pakistan following the Pahalgam attack, India on Wednesday downgraded diplomatic ties with it and announced a raft of measures, including expulsion of Pakistani military attaches, suspension of the Indus Water Treaty of 1960 and immediate shutting down of the Attari land-transit post.
The decisions were taken at a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. (Agencies)
Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Union Minister and BJP National President JP Nadda, Union Minister Kiren Rijiju, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, along with Congress President and Rajya Sabha opposition leader Mallikarjun Kharge, Congress MP and Lok Sabha Leader of the Opposition (LoP) Rahul Gandhi, and other prominent leaders arrive at the Parliament Annexe building to attend the all-party meeting to discuss the Pahalgam terror attack.
The Central government has called for an all-party meeting to discuss the Pahalgam terror attack. According to sources, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will chair the meeting.
Earlier in the day, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Minister of External Affairs S Jaishankar called upon President Droupadi Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhavan in the national capital to brief her about the deadly terrorist attack in Pahalgam.
Terrorists attacked tourists at Baisaran meadow in Pahalgam on Tuesday, killing 25 Indian nationals and one Nepali citizen while leaving several others injured, in one of the deadliest attacks in the valley since the 2019 Pulwama strike in which 40 CRPF jawans were killed.
Following the attack, India has taken strong countermeasures against Pakistan for its support of cross-border terrorism.
In the Cabinet Committee on Security meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in the presence of Home Minister Amit Shah, India decided to hold the Indus Waters Treaty of 1960 in abeyance until Pakistan credibly and irrevocably abjures its support for cross-border terrorism and has closed the integrated Attari Check Post.
India has also declared the officials of the Pakistani High Commission persona non grata and ordered them to leave India within a week. The country further decided to cancel any visas provided under the SAARC Visa Exemption Scheme (SVES) and ordered Pakistan to leave the country within 48 hours.
The Government of India has decided to suspend visa services to Pakistani nationals with immediate effect. All existing valid visas issued by India to Pakistani nationals stand revoked with effect from 27 April 2025, the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement
