Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], April 24 (ANI): Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, on Thursday, condemning the terror attack in Phalgam, expressed his support to the central government and said that terrorists should not be shown any sympathy.

Addressing mediapersons, Siddaramaiah emphasised that terrorism must be 'thrown away' from the country, and said the terrorists' attack in Pahalgam was a 'cowardly act.'

'I strongly condemn the attack. Terrorists and terrorist activities must be thrown away from the country. We should not need to show them sympathy, we are with the central government, I demand central government to take stringent action to eradicate terrorism. Shooting before their wives and kids is nothing but a cowardly act,' Siddaramaiah said.

Siddaramaiah today visited the residence of Bharat Bhusan, a local who was killed in the Pahalgam attack.

Urging the Centre to take action against terrorism, Siddaramaiah suggested that the attack might have happened due to 'a lack of intelligence.'

'In the same state Pulwama incident also happened, 40 soldiers became martyrs. Again, it's repeated; it should not repeat, wherever these terrorists could be, they must be treated properly. Probably It's an intelligence failure, we lacked intelligence.' Siddaramaiah said.

Siddaramaiah further informed that Karnataka Minister of Transport Ramalinga Reddy will attend the last rites of Manjunath Rao, a resident who was killed in the attack.

Madhu Bangarappa (State Minister of Primary and Secondary Education) visited Shivamogga, and Ramalinga Reddy will be here till cremation,' Siddaramaiah said.

The last rites of Manjunath Rao will be performed today in Shivamogga. Union Minister Prahlad Joshi will also attend the last rites.

Siddaramaiah further expressed support to the victims' family and assured that the State Minister of Labour Department Santosh Laad have been sent to Kashmir for the safe return of people.

'I have sent Santosh Laad and asked to bring back martyrs and 177 people who are in Kashmir. Its a responsibility and duty of the government.'

Siddaramaiah extended his support to the counter-measures taken by the Central government against Pakistan following the attack.

'The central government have taken some actions already, and we are with the central government. We demand central government take strong action,' Karnataka CM said.

Meanwhile, BJP leader CT Ravi, who also paid his respects to Bharat Bhushan, said that a 'Surgical strike' is needed as counter measure to this attack.

'We talked to his family (Bharat Bhusan). His wife told us that they had begged (the attackers) to spare (Bhushan) as they had a small child. But he was not spared. He was asked to recite kalma, but he responded that since he was a Hindu, he did not know how to. So he was killed. When his wife asked (the attackers) to kill her too, she was told to go tell Modi about this incident... They (terrorists) consider people who don't follow Islam as kafir... Till this thinking does not change, there will be no peace in the world... Everyone knows where the terrorist training centre is in the world... The diplomatic steps were necessary as the first step. Now, a surgical strike is needed,' Ravi said.

The Karnataka government has announced a compensation of Rs 10 lakh each of the three tourists from the state who were killed in the Pahalgam terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir.

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 counter-measures against Pakistan for its support to cross-border terrorism.

In the CCS meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in the presence of Home Minister Amit Shah, India decided to hold Indus Waters Treaty of 1960 in abeyance until Pakistan credibly and irrevocably abjures its support for cross-border terrorism.

India has also decided to close the integrated Attari Check Post with immediate effect. Further the country has decided to cancel any visas provided SAARC Visa Exemption Scheme (SVES) and ordered Pakistan to leave the country within 48 hours.

India declared Defence/Military, Naval and Air Advisors in the Pakistani High Commission as Persona Non Grata and ordered to leave India within a week.

As a security measure, India has decided to withdraw its own Defence/Navy/Air Advisors from the Indian High Commission in Islamabad. These posts in the respective High Commissions are deemed annulled. Five support staff of the Service Advisors will also be withdrawn from both High Commissions.

The overall strength of the high commissions will be brought down to 30 from the present 55 through further reductions, to be effective by 01 May 2025.

Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri announced the decisions in a press briefing on Wednesday after the CEC meeting. (ANI)