Pakistan said yesterday it had received “credible intelligence” that India intends to launch military action soon, which it vowed to respond to, amid growing concerns of escalating conflict following a deadly attack on tourists in Indian Kashmir.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif accused India of engaging in “provocations” and “seeking escalation” during a phone call with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, as tensions between the two nuclear-armed powers increased in the aftermath of the Kashmir attack.
Sharif condemned “India’s provocative and escalatory stance” during the call, a statement issued by Islamabad said. The US State Department announced that Rubio would reach out to his Indian and Pakistani counterparts to urge them “not to escalate the situation.”
Leaders from several countries expressed deep concern and urged the two neighbours, who have fought multiple wars, to exercise self-restraint.
The United Nations Secretary General António Guterres spoke by phone on Tuesday with the Pakistani Prime Minister and Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, and “offered his good offices to support de-escalation,” according to a statement by his spokesperson.
Sharif’s office later announced that he had urged Guterres to “advise India” to show restraint, pledging that Pakistan would defend its “sovereignty and territorial integrity with full force if India undertakes any reckless adventurism.”
Relations between the two nuclear-armed neighbours have deteriorated since New Delhi blamed its rival Pakistan for last week’s attack targeting civilians in Pahalgam, in the Indian-administered part of Kashmir. It was the deadliest attack on civilians in the region in a quarter of a century.
A high-level government source said that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave the military “full freedom” to respond to the attack during a closed-door meeting on Tuesday.
The Pakistani government denied any involvement in the attack. Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said in a statement yesterday that “any act of aggression will be met with a decisive response.”
“Pakistan has credible intelligence that India intends to carry out a military action within 24 to 36 hours, using the Pahalgam incident as a flimsy pretext,” he added.
However, Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar affirmed that Pakistan would not initiate an attack.
The Indian military announced yesterday that it had exchanged fire with Pakistani forces for the sixth consecutive night across the Line of Control – a heavily fortified zone with high-altitude forward posts in the Himalayas, marking the de facto border of Kashmir.
A Pakistani security source said that soldiers returned fire in response to “unprovoked firing” during the night, while another security official confirmed that two drones were shot down on Tuesday after violating Pakistan’s airspace.
The Pakistani military also stated that during its weekly contact with the Indian army on Tuesday, it discussed the exchange of fire that occurred six nights earlier in Kashmir, where tensions between the two nuclear powers continue to rise.
Pakistani military spokesman Lieutenant General Ahmed Chaudhry said, “We addressed the ceasefire violations” along the Line of Control, the de facto border in the disputed region. An Indian military source confirmed the discussions during the “routine Tuesday contact” between the two armies, which have fought multiple wars since their independence in 1947.
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