The China Mail - Pakistan says India planning strike as tensions soar over Kashmir attack

The statement by Attaullah Tarar -- issued shortly before 2:00 am local time (2100 GMT Tuesday) -- came after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a closed-door meeting the previous day with army and security chiefs, at which he gave the military "complete operational freedom" to respond to the attack, a senior government source told AFP.

"Pakistan has credible intelligence that India intends to launch a military strike within the next 24 to 36 hours using the Pahalgam incident as a false pretext," Tarar said on X.

Pahalgam is a tourist hub in Indian-administered Kashmir where 26 men were killed on April 22 in the deadliest attack on civilians in the contested region in years.

India has accused Pakistan of supporting the attack, a claim Islamabad has rejected.

"Any act of aggression will be met with a decisive response," said Tarar. "India will be fully responsible for any serious consequences in the region!"

The development comes as nations around the world, from neighbouring China to the United States, express deep concerns over the nuclear-armed neighbors' mounting tensions and urge restraint.

India's army on Tuesday said it had repeatedly traded gunfire with Pakistani troops across the Line of Control (LoC), the de facto Kashmir border, a heavily fortified zone of high-altitude Himalayan outposts.

Pakistan's military did not confirm the shooting, but state radio in Islamabad reported on Tuesday it had shot down an Indian drone, calling it a violation of its airspace.

It did not say when the incident happened, and there was no comment from New Delhi.

- 'Ends of the Earth' -

Tensions have been rapidly mounting in the week since the Pahalgam attack, with tit-for-tat diplomatic barbs, expulsion of citizens and land border crossings shut.

Last week, Modi vowed to pursue those who carried out the attack, and those who had supported it.

"I say to the whole world: India will identify, track and punish every terrorist and their backer," he said on Thursday.

"We will pursue them to the ends of the Earth".

The bellicose statements have prompted worries of a spiral into military action, with calls from several nations for restraint.

The US State Department said top diplomat Marco Rubio would call his Pakistani and Indian counterparts soon to urge them "to not escalate the situation."

UN chief Antonio Guterres meanwhile held calls Tuesday with Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar in which he "offered his Good Offices to support de-escalation", his spokesman said.

Sharif's office later said he had urged Guterres to "counsel India" to exercise restraint, while pledging to defend Pakistan's "sovereignty and territorial integrity with full force in case of any misadventure by India".

Muslim-majority Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since their independence from British rule in 1947. Both claim the territory in full.

Rebels in the Indian-run area have waged an insurgency since 1989, seeking independence or a merger with Pakistan.

Indian police have issued wanted posters for three men accused of carrying out the Kashmir attack -- two Pakistanis and an Indian -- who they say are members of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba group, a UN-designated terrorist organisation.

They have announced a two million rupee ($23,500) bounty for information leading to each man's arrest and carried out sweeping detentions seeking anyone suspected of links to the alleged killers.

The worst attack in recent years in Indian-run Kashmir was at Pulwama in 2019, when an insurgent rammed a car packed with explosives into a security forces convoy, killing 40 and wounding 35.

Indian fighter jets carried out air strikes on Pakistani territory 12 days later.

Iran has already offered to mediate and Saudi Arabia has said Riyadh was trying to "prevent an escalation".

US President Donald Trump downplayed tensions, saying on Friday the dispute will get "figured out, one way or another".

burs-des/dw

K.Leung--ThChM