New Delhi has been placed on high alert, with all government employee leave canceled, as India and Pakistan accuse each other of launching military attacks in the worst fighting between the nuclear-armed neighbours in nearly three decades. India’s Defence Minister Rajnath Singh stated that Pakistan’s armed forces launched multiple drone and missile attacks across 15 cities along the western border on Thursday night and Friday morning, which were “effectively repulsed.”
Islamabad was also accused of “numerous ceasefire violations” along the Line of Control in Jammu & Kashmir, receiving a “befitting reply,” according to Indian officials. Targets included military stations in Jammu, Pathankot, and Udhampur. India suspended the Indian Premier League T20 cricket tournament after a match was halted midway on Thursday due to security concerns.
The developments follow the Pahalgam terror attack on April 22 that killed 26 Indian tourists.
New Delhi has implicated Pakistan in the attack, a charge Pakistan denies.
Following a comprehensive national security review, Defence Minister Singh announced a high alert in Delhi and the cancellation of all city government employees’ leave.Several districts in Punjab have ordered nighttime blackouts.
Around 27 airports across the country have been shut.
On Wednesday, under ‘Operation Sindoor,’ India launched 24 missiles in 25 minutes targeting nine terror bases in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir.
A Defence Ministry spokesperson confirmed that Singh chaired a high-level meeting to assess the security situation along the western border and the armed forces’ preparedness.
After thwarting Pakistani attempts last night, the ministry stated that India remains “fully prepared to defend its sovereignty and ensure the safety of its people.”
Pakistan’s Information Minister Attaullah Tarar labeled the Indian army’s statement as “baseless and misleading,” asserting that Pakistan had not undertaken any “offensive actions” targeting areas within Indian Kashmir or beyond.
In Pakistani Kashmir, officials reported that heavy shelling from across the border killed five civilians, including an infant, and injured 29 in the early hours of Friday.
Global powers, including the US and China, have urged both countries to de-escalate tensions.
US Vice President JD Vance reiterated the call for de-escalation on Thursday, stating, “We want this thing to de-escalate as quickly as possible. We can’t control these countries, though.”
And deescalation attempts seem to be fading on all sides, sad regional expert Jonah Kaplan of Sibylline strategic risk group.
“There has little success among the International community i calming things down. The US doesn’t even have ambassadors in either New Dehli or Islamabad yet and Marco Rubio is has a lot on his plate as Secretary of State, National Security Advisor head of USAID and is dealing with myriad of other military crises,” he said.
“Both sides want to be able to spin a victory to an increasingly nationalistic, domestic audience. That means showing that they’ve retaliated.
“While the gap between India and Pakistan, economically and military, has never been bigger, we cannot underestimate Pakistan’s resolve.
“And the longer these tit for tat exchanges continue, the higher the likelihood of a miscalculation – a bomb missing its target exactly – all, of a sudden, it can gets really out of hand. “