Citing “credible intelligence”, Pakistan said India is planning military action against Islamabad in the next 24-36 hours. It further warned New Delhi of “catastrophic” consequences in the complete region and beyond in the event of such action.
Pakistan’s Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said Indian forces were preparing to launch an attack on the basis of “baseless and concocted allegations” regarding the country’s involvement in the Pahalgam terror attack, which killed 26 people.
Tarar said India is playing “judge, jury and executioner”, a role it it rejects. “Being a responsible state, Pakistan open heartedly offered a credible, transparent and independent investigation by a neutral commission of experts to ascertain the truth,” he said, adding that Islamabad has been a victim of terrorism itself.
Reiterating Pakistan’s resolve to defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity, urging the international community to “remain alive to the reality that the onus of escalatory spiral and its ensuing consequences shall squarely lie with India”.
The statement came hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi told the top defence brass that the armed forces have “complete operational freedom” to decide on the mode, targets and timing of India’s response to the Pahalgam terror attack, government sources told PTI. Earlier, he had said that India will “identify, track, and punish” the terrorists behind the deadly attack at Jammu and Kashmir’s scenic Baisaran meadow and pursue the killers to the “ends of the earth”.
Tensions across the border mounted after a raft of measures taken by India in response to the Pahalgam terror attack. India expelled Pakistani military attaches, suspended the Indus Water Treaty of 1960, revoked all visas issued to Pakistani nationals from April 27 and immediately shut down of the Attari land-transit post.
Ceasefire violations along the Line Of Control continued for the sixth consecutive day on Tuesday, as India responded to unprovoked firing from the Pakistan posts.
