In response to an unprecedented upheaval in Indian-administered Kashmir, Pakistan’s minister for information and broadcasting claims Islamabad has “credible intelligence” that India intends to launch a military strike within the next 24 to 36 hours.
Attaullah Tarar claimed that India had used the 26 tourists killed in the attack last week as a “false pretext” to potentially strike Pakistan in a social media post early on Wednesday.
The Indian government did not immediately comment in public on the allegations, and the minister did not provide any specific proof to support his claim.
“Any act of aggression will receive a decisive response. India will bear full responsibility for any significant regional consequences, Tarar stated in the post X.
A military incursion by India was “imminent,” according to Pakistani Defense Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif on Monday.
Islamabad is on high alert, but it won’t use its nuclear weapons if “there is a direct threat to our existence,” Asif said.
The Indian Ministry of External Affairs did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters news agency regarding Tarar’s most recent comments.
After India claimed that there were Pakistani collaborators in the April 22 attack in the mountain resort of Pahalgam, increasing tensions between the two nations.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has promised to pursue the attackers in the country’s most deadly tourist attack in more than 20 years.
The Resistance Front (TRF), a group thought to be an offshoot of Pakistan’s Lashkar-e-Taiba, was named in a statement claiming responsibility for the attack.
Islamabad, however, has disputed any involvement in the incident and demanded a fair investigation.
Following the attack, the neighbors retaliated diplomatically by launching a number of diplomatic maneuvers, including the closure of Pakistani airspace to Indian airlines.
India also canceled its participation in the Indus River and its tributaries’ water-sharing agreement, which governs the two nations’ relationship.
The Pakistani government has stated that it is preparing legal action in Pakistan as a result of the decision made by New Delhi.
Along the Line of Control (LoC), the 740 km (460 miles) de facto border that separates Kashmir from India, international calls have been made to calm the situation.
The United States urged the two nations to work together on a “responsible solution” on Tuesday.
According to a statement from Secretary of State Marco Rubio, “We are reaching out to both parties and telling them to not escalate the situation.”
Rubio also stated that he would discuss the situation with the Indian and Pakistani foreign ministers on Tuesday or Wednesday and that he would encourage other foreign ministers to do the same.
