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Pakistan violates ceasefire, India revamps NSAB amid escalating tension
Tension between India and Pakistan continued to escalate as both the nations exchanged fire across the Line of Control , during the intervening night of April 29-30, amid calls for restraint from the US.
The Cabinet Committee on Security, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, reportedly reviewed the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir, where terrorists killed 26 tourists on April 22.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is also set to speak with the foreign ministers of both the countries to encourage restraint and prevent further escalation.
The Air Force also conducted training sorties over the country, including Jammu and Kashmir. The central government also revamped the National Security Advisory Board (NSAB) and appointed former R&AW chief Alok Joshi as its chairman. The new members appointed to the NSAB are former Western Air Commander Air Marshal PM Sinha, former Southern Army Commander Lt Gen AK Singh and Rear Admiral (retd) Monty Khanna, people familiar with the matter said.
Former diplomat B Venkatesh Varma and retired IPS officer Rajiv Ranjan Verma have also been appointed to the NSAB as its members, they said. Meanwhile, on the other side of the border, US Chargé d'Affaires Natalie Baker met Pakistan's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar.
According to PTI estimates, Indian airlines may face ₹77 crore weekly additional expenses for international flights operated from north Indian cities due to the closure of airspace by Pakistan, resulting in increased fuel consumption and longer flight durations.
Later in the evening, at a press conference in the national capital, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said that those responsible for the Pahalgam terror attack must pay the price for what they have done and Prime Minister Narendra Modi must act strongly.
'The prime minister has to take action. Action has to be clear and strong. The prime minister must not dilly dally and needs to act. He can act in whatever time frame he thinks necessary,' Gandhi said.
The Congress MP also met the family of a victim of the Pahalgam attack in Kanpur.
On the exchange of fire at the LOC, the Indian Army said in a statement on Wednesday that the Pakistan Army initiated the firing of small arms across the LoC, opposite Naushera, Sunderbani and Akhnoor sectors in the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
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When the Afghan War ended, Pakistan used the leftover infrastructure of Operation Cyclone warehouses filled with weapons and tens of thousands of radicalised mujahideen, to wage war against India, first in Punjab, and later in Jammu and Kashmir. All along, the Pakistan Army kept up the pretence of violent groups like the LeT and Jaish-e-Mohammed being 'non-state actors', over whom the state had no control when terrorist groups like the TTP turned against it, Pakistan used the attacks to play the victim card. Each time India attempted to point at Pakistan's state sponsorship of terror, Islamabad maintained it was also a victim of terrorism. Pakistan used this stratagem to deceive the West in the two-decade War on Terror in Afghanistan (2001-2021). It deceived the US that it was with them while it was covertly training and sheltering the Taliban. 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden was hidden in a safehouse just a kilometre away from the Pakistan Military Academy, India, the mask fell off on April 16, 2025. On that day, army chief General Asim Munir who delivered a highly provocative and communal speech advocating the Two Nation Theory. On April 22, 26 Indian tourists and one Nepali national were massacred by Pakistani terrorists. Post Operation Sindoor, the Pakistan army has accorded military funerals to dead terrorists. Terrorist leaders have openly appeared on platforms with politicians. The mask of deniability has fallen off. The blame for all future terror strikes will be laid squarely at the doorstep of the Pakistan RAISES PAKISTAN'S TERROR SPONSORSHIP COSTSTerrorism was a low-cost option for the Pakistan Army. 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Terror sponsorship is no longer a low-cost Operation Sindoor end Pakistan-sponsored terrorism ? It is unlikely. This is because the Pakistan Army defines victory very differently, as the scholar C Christine Fair once for the Pakistan Army is not when it loses half its country and its military infrastructure is wrecked. Defeat for the Pakistan Army is only when it stops Pakistan Army is actually a gigantic business corporation. The military runs a business empire, construction companies, housing corporations, security agencies and logistics firms which benefit a key military elite. This business empire is estimated at over $100 billion. So deeply entrenched is this autonomous state within a state that there's actually a term for it, Milbus or Military Business, coined by Pakistani scholar Ayesha Siddiqa. The Pakistan Army chief is also the MD and CEO of this corporation. What Operation Sindoor has done is to force the Pakistan Army chief to do a cost-benefit analysis before launching a terror strike against India. 'Will this attack deliver more for me than the cost of retaliation from India?'advertisement4. BOOSTED INDIA'S INDIGENOUS WEAPONSOne of the key thrust areas of the Modi government was indigenous weapons systems. This paid off handsomely during Operation Sindoor when indigenously developed solutions proved to be star of Operation Sindoor was the Russian-designed indigenously produced Su-30MKI and the Brahmos supersonic cruise missile. India is the only country in the world with this combination- a fighter jet carrying a heavy supersonic cruise missile with a 200 kg warhead. Because the missile flies at nearly three times the speed of sound, it strikes targets with nine times the kinetic energy of ordinary missiles. 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