Pakistan to consider de-escalation in India clash after latest strikes

Islamabad: Pakistan’s foreign minister said his country would consider de-escalation if India stopped further attacks, after India said it was committed to non-escalation if Pakistan reciprocated.

Both countries traded strikes on Saturday, the latest escalation in a conflict triggered by a massacre last month that India blames on Pakistan.

Rescuers and security workers inspect a residential building damaged by a Pakistani drone attack in Jammu, India, on Saturday.Credit: AP

Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar still warned, however, that if India launched any strikes, “our response will follow”.

Dar told Pakistan’s Geo News that he had also conveyed this message to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio when he contacted him after speaking to New Delhi.

“We responded because our patience had reached its limit. If they stop here, we will also consider stopping,” Dar said.

India said it had targeted Pakistani military bases on Saturday after Islamabad fired several high-speed missiles at a number of Indian air bases in the country’s Punjab state earlier in the day.

Smoke billows after an explosion in Jammu, India, on Saturday.Credit: Getty Images

Pakistan had earlier said it had intercepted most missiles targeting three air bases and that retaliatory strikes on India were under way.

Indian Colonel Sofiya Qureshi said Pakistan also targeted health facilities and schools at its three air bases in Indian-controlled Kashmir. “Befitting reply has been given to Pakistani actions,” she said.

Wing Commander Vyomika Singh said India was committed to “non-escalation” provided that Pakistan reciprocated. However, she said Pakistani ground forces were observed mobilising towards forward areas, “indicating an offensive intent to further escalate the situation”.

“Indian armed forces remain in a high state of operational readiness,” she said.

Pakistani police remove vehicles and people from the main entry of Nur Khan airbase after an Indian missile strike in Rawalpindi on Saturday.Credit: AP

Singh said Indian armed forces carried out “precision strikes only at identified military targets in response to Pakistani actions”, which included technical infrastructure, command and control centres, radar sites and weapon storage areas to ensure “minimum collateral damage”, and that Pakistan had overnight launched several high-speed missiles targeting air bases and civilian infrastructure in the northern Indian state of Punjab.

“All hostile actions have been effectively countered and responded to appropriately,” she said.

The Pakistani army’s actions were “provocation” and India’s response had been “measured”, Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said.

Misri also rejected Pakistan military claims that it had destroyed several air force stations in India and caused serious damage to artillery depots, military establishments and critical infrastructure, including power stations.

A residence destroyed by artillery shelling allegedly conducted by Pakistani forces in the town of Uri, Indian-controlled Kashmir.Credit: Getty Images

The Pakistani military said earlier on Saturday it had used medium-range Fateh missiles to target an Indian missile storage facility and airbases in Pathankot and Udhampur.

Army spokesman Lieutenant General Ahmad Sharif said in a televised address that Pakistan’s air force assets were safe after the Indian strikes, adding that some of the Indian missiles also hit India’s eastern Punjab.

“This is a provocation of the highest order,” Sharif said.

Tensions between the nuclear-armed rivals have soared since an attack at a popular tourist site in India-controlled Kashmir left 26 civilians dead, mostly Hindu Indian tourists, on April 22. New Delhi has blamed Pakistan for backing the assault, an accusation Islamabad rejects.

Residents in Indian-controlled Kashmir said they heard loud explosions on Saturday in several parts of the region, including the two big cities of Srinagar and Jammu, and the garrison town of Udhampur.

“Explosions that we are hearing today are different from the ones we heard the last two nights during drone attacks,” said Shesh Paul Vaid, the region’s former top police official and a resident of Jammu. “It looks like a war here.”

Srinagar appeared calm early on Saturday, but some residents in neighbourhoods close to the city’s airport, which is also an air base, said they were rattled by the explosions and the booming sound of fighter jets.

“I was already awake, but the explosions jolted my kids out of their sleep. They started crying,” said Yasin.

Despite the Indian attacks, life in Pakistan’s major cities remained normal on Saturday morning, though the country’s civil aviation authority said all airports had been shut for all flight operations.

As soon as they learnt that Pakistan had carried out a retaliatory strike, people were seen raising signs with slogans supporting Pakistan’s armed forces.

On Wednesday, India conducted airstrikes on several sites in Pakistani territory that it described as militant-related, killing 31 civilians, Pakistani officials said. Pakistan said it had shot down five Indian fighter jets.

AP, Reuters

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