Pakistan has said it has “credible intelligence” that India is planning imminent military action against it, a week after tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbours escalated following a deadly attack in Kashmir.
Speaking on Wednesday, Pakistan’s Information Minister Attaullah Tarar claimed the information showed that India could launch an attack in the next 24 to 36 hours.
Any “military adventurism by India would be responded to assuredly and decisively”, Tarar said.
India has accused Pakistan of backing the 22 April attack in Pahalgam, a town in Indian-controlled Kashmir, something Islamabad strongly denies.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi vowed to pursue the attackers “to the ends of the earth”.
Meanwhile his party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), said on X on Wednesday that India would show “zero tolerance for terrorism”.
“Modi has given Indian forces a free hand to respond decisively after the brutal Pahalgam terror attack,” it added.
In the aftermath of the attack, New Delhi suspended a crucial water-sharing agreement, a move Islamabad called “unlawful”. It also told all Pakistanis to leave its territory.
Both India and Pakistan have closed their airspace to planes belonging to the other country.
The tensions between the neighbours are at their highest point since 2019, when India conducted military strikes in Pakistan following an insurgent attack in India-administered Kashmir.
Kashmir has for decades been a flashpoint for the two countries, which both administer part of but both claim in full.
In separate calls with both India and Pakistan, the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged them to “avoid a confrontation that could result in tragic consequences”.
Additional sources • AP