Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave his military “complete operational freedom” on April 22 in Pahalgam in Indian-administered Kashmir, giving India responsibility for the deadly shooting that claimed 26 lives.
Pakistan, which denies any involvement in the attack, has asserted that it has “credible evidence” that India is planning a military strike and has promised that “any act of aggression will be met with a decisive response.”
Attaullah Tarar, the information minister of Pakistan, stated in a televised statement early on Wednesday that the attack might occur within the “next 24 to 36 hours.”
“Reading underground bunkers”
Authorities in Pakistan-administered Kashmir have shut down more than 1, 000 religious schools in the fear of an uprising.
The local religious affairs department’s head, Hafiz Nazeer Ahmed, told the AFP news agency, “We have announced a 10-day break for all madrassas in Kashmir.”
It was “due to the border’s tensions and the potential for conflict,” according to a source within the organization.
In Pakistan-administered Kashmir, where 1.5 million people reside close to the Line of Control (LoC), where they can also afford to build basic, mud-walled underground bunkers that can be reinforced with concrete.
Iftikhar Ahmad Mir, a 44-year-old shopkeeper in Chakothi near the LoC, told AFP, “For one week we have been living in constant fear, especially regarding the safety of our children.”
After finishing their education, “we make sure they don’t wander around and return home.”
In Muzaffarabad, the main city in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, emergency services have also begun teaching students what to do in an attack-force situation.
Ali Raza, 11, said, “We have learned how to dress a wounded person, how to carry someone on a stretcher, and how to start a fire.”
India: Will it attack?
The state-run Doordarshan broadcaster reported that Modi presided over a Cabinet Committee on Security meeting on Wednesday, which was the second one since the Pahalgam attack.
Other world leaders stepped up diplomacy in an effort to lower the tensions as the neighbours continued to exchange and shoot gunfire along the LoC dividing India and Pakistan-administered Kashmir.
After Pakistan forbade Indian aircraft from overflying, India on Wednesday closed its airspace to Pakistani aircraft.
Shehbaz Sharif, the prime minister of Pakistan, has urged the US to “dial down the rhetoric and act responsibly” in a letter to India.
A State Department spokesman said in a statement on Wednesday that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has asked both countries to “de-escalate tensions.”
According to White House spokesman Tammy Bruce, Rubio “urged Pakistani officials to cooperate in the investigation of this unacceptable attack.”
Additionally, on Tuesday, the UN Secretary-General’s spokesperson, Antonio Guterres, stated that he had spoken with Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, the prime minister of India, and to offer his assistance in “de-escalation.”
India has previously used a variety of military strategies, including covert military operations, publicized surgical strikes, aerial strikes, attempts to overtake Pakistan-controlled land, naval missions, and a full-fledged military conflict, despite it being uncertain what course of action it might take.
Since the bloody demise of British rule in 1947, India and Pakistan have engaged in territorial disputes in the Himalayas.
Since 1989, rebels in the Indian-run Kashmir region have been fighting armed for independence or a fusion with Pakistan.
In India-run Kashmir, a suicide bomber threw a car full of explosives into a security forces convoy in 2019, causing the death of 40 people and injuring 35 others in Pulwama, which was the worst attack in recent years.
