Kashmir attack: India says Pakistan had 'direct hand' in deadly convoy strike

Srinagar, India (CNN)India said there was "incontrovertible evidence" that Pakistan had a "direct hand" in a bomb attack on a convoy that killed at least 40 people in Indian-administered Kashmir.

After a Cabinet Committee on Security meeting on Friday, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said in a statement that India would initiate "all possible diplomatic steps" to "ensure the complete isolation from the international community of Pakistan, of which incontrovertible evidence is available of having a direct hand in this gruesome terrorist incident."

Jaitley added that India would downgrade diplomatic relations by withdrawing its "most favored nation status" to Pakistan -- a largely symbolic title.

Thursday's attack on a convoy of Indian soldiers killed 40 and wounded five, said M. Dhinakaran, deputy inspector general of the Central Reserve Police Force. It was deadliest attack on security forces since the beginning of the insurgency in the late 1980s.

Indian PM condemns 'dastardly attack'

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted support for soldiers in the state.

"Attack on CRPF personnel in Pulwama is despicable. I strongly condemn this dastardly attack. The sacrifices of our brave security personnel shall not go in vain. The entire nation stands shoulder to shoulder with the families of the brave martyrs. May the injured recover quickly," he wrote.

On Friday, Modi reiterated his comments, warning Pakistan that India will not be divided.

"If they (Pakistan) think that the kinds of things they are doing, the conspiracies that they are concocting -- that they will be successful in creating instability in India, then they should abandon that dream. They will never be able to do it."

Modi has taken a stronger stand toward terrorism in the state since he came to power almost five years ago. In 2018, 253 terrorists were killed by Indian security forces -- more than double the number of terrorists killed in 2015, according to the Ministry of Home Affairs.

picture of indian army