Tensions have ramped up between the nuclear-armed nations of India and Pakistan following the deadly militant attack in Kashmir last week. At least 26 people – mostly Indian tourists – were shot dead and several dozen injured by a gunman near the resort town of Pahalgam in the Indian-controlled part of the region on April 22.
India described the massacre as a “terror attack” and blamed Pakistan for backing militancy. Now, Pakistan’s defence minister has warned that a military incursion by India is imminent, as tensions continue to rise. He also revealed the country’s military has been briefed by the government on the possibility of an Indian attack.
“We have reinforced our forces because it is something which is imminent now,” Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif told Reuters. “So in that situation some strategic decisions have to be taken, so those decisions have been taken.”
The minister – a veteran politician and outspoken member of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz party – did not give any more details as to why he believes an incursion is looming.
Meanwhile, Bhutto Zardari, a politican whose mother, former Pakistan prime minister Benazir Bhutto was assassinated in 2007, said his country was “bracing for any such action where Pakistan is at the ready to respond”.
“I don’t want to go into theoreticals other than to say from our air force to our armed forces to our navy, Pakistan is well capable of responding to any and all forms of Indian aggression,” he told Yalda Hakim.
Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, has vowed to pursue and punish the Kashmir attackers.
Pakistan is on high alert but said it would only use its nuclear weapons if “there is a direct threat to our existence,” said Defence Minister Asif.
The minister added that Islamabad had approached friendly countries, including Gulf states and China, and briefed Britain, the US and others. The US State Department said Washington was in contact with both sides, urging them to work towards a “responsible solution”.
The Kashmir attack – one of the worst in recent times in Kashmir – was claimed by a previously unknown militant group, Kashmir Resistance. Also known as The Resistant Front, it first emerged in 2019 and is considered a splinter group of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). LeT is listed as a terrorist organisation by the US.
The group is also accused of killing 166 people during a four-day attack in Mumbai in 2008. At the time, LeT was alleged to have close ties to Pakistan’s spy agency – the Inter-Service Intelligence – which Islamabad has denied.
