ISLAMABAD: In a swift and serious response to India’s escalating belligerence, Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif has summoned a high-stakes meeting of the National Security Committee (NSC) for Thursday morning, April 24, 2025, to deliberate over what Islamabad is officially labelling as “irresponsible and provocative actions” by New Delhi following the controversial Pahalgam incident.
The high-level session, to be presided over by the Prime Minister, will bring together the country’s civil-military top brass, including the Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, the Chiefs of Army, Navy, and Air Force, heads of intelligence agencies, and senior cabinet members.
Finance Minister Ishaq Dar confirmed the urgent development on Wednesday night via a post on X, stating:
“Prime Minister Mohammad Shehbaz Sharif 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.”
The NSC will conduct a full-spectrum review of both internal and external security dynamics, especially in light of what Pakistani officials believe to be a “false flag operation” carried out in Pahalgam, located in Indian-occupied Jammu & Kashmir.
The government of Pakistan has raised alarm over the suspicious timing and political utility of the attack, which it suspects may have been engineered to serve India’s geopolitical agenda.
The situation has dramatically worsened with India’s abrupt suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty, expulsion of Pakistani nationals, and the unilateral closure of the Attari-Wagah border crossing—moves that Pakistani authorities have termed as “reckless, destabilizing, and aimed at regional isolation of Pakistan.”
The Indus Waters Treaty, brokered by the World Bank in 1960 and widely considered a cornerstone of South Asian water diplomacy, has withstood wars and diplomatic standoffs between the two nuclear powers.
New Delhi’s decision to unilaterally abandon it has drawn sharp condemnation in Islamabad.
Officials warn this could trigger a full-blown water crisis, disrupt critical irrigation cycles, and further erode bilateral trust.
The NSC is expected to explore a broad range of retaliatory, diplomatic, and legal countermeasures.
These include reaching out to the UN Security Council, briefing international stakeholders, approaching the International Court of Justice, and mobilizing regional allies to contain Indian unilateralism.
Diplomatic observers note that the gravity of Thursday’s meeting could redefine Pakistan’s posture in the region.
The outcome may set the tone for a more assertive and coordinated national strategy to defend Pakistan’s sovereignty, water rights, and regional standing.