Tensions between India and Pakistan continue to mount after a top Pakistani official claimed to have "credible intelligence" that New Delhi is prepared to undertake military action against Islamabad following a militant attack in Kashmir.
"Pakistan has credible intelligence that India intends carrying out military action against Pakistan in the next 24-36 hours," Pakistani Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said in a video message posted on X in the middle of the night.
There was no immediate response from India to the claim. RFE/RL contacted India's External Affairs Ministry and Defense Ministry for comment, but has yet to receive an answer.
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Why Kashmir Remains A Flashpoint Between India, Pakistan, And China
Tarar did not elaborate on what evidence Pakistan had used to make the claim, but added that Islamabad would respond "assuredly and decisively" to any Indian action.
"The international community must remain alive to the reality that the onus of escalatory spiral and its ensuing consequences shall squarely lie with India," Tarar said.
The comments come just a week after militants massacred 26 people in the Himalayan mountain town of Pahalgam in Indian-administered Kashmir. The attack has sparked widespread outrage across India and brought nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan to the brink of conflict.
SEE ALSO: India And Pakistan Are On The Brink Of Conflict. Here's Why.India quickly accused Pakistan of involvement in the attack and said two of the three suspected militants were Pakistani. Islamabad has flatly denied any responsibility and offered to carry out an investigation.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government has not issued public comments regarding any imminent plans for military action, but he met with his cabinet late on April 29. Indian media have reported, citing unnamed government sources, that Modi has given the country's armed forces "complete operational freedom to decide on the mode, targets, and timing of our response to the terror attack."
Why Are India And Pakistan On The Brink Of Conflict?
The April 22 terrorist attack was claimed by a little known group that calls itself the Resistance Front, but there has been no way to corroborate the claim made on social media. Indian officials say it is a proxy for the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba, a United Nations-designated terrorist organization.
SEE ALSO: India, Pakistan Tensions Rise After Tit-For-Tat Moves Following Deadly Kashmir AttackIn the aftermath of the attack, India took a number of nonmilitary measures against Pakistan, suspending a vital water-sharing treaty, downgrading diplomatic relations, and asking Pakistani nationals to leave the country.
Islamabad announced similar retaliatory measures a day later.
The attack took place in the Indian-administered part of Kashmir. Both India and Pakistan control the region in part, but each claims it in full.
SEE ALSO: Pakistan Readying To Challenge India's Suspension Of Vital Water Treaty Amid Rising TensionsThe two countries have fought three wars over the territory, which is now divided by a de-facto border called the Line of Control (LoC). The region has been hit regularly by militant violence since an armed anti-Indian insurgency began in 1989. Hostilities have claimed tens of thousands of lives over more than three decades.
Praveen Swami, the national-security editor at the Indian daily newspaper The Print, told RFE/RL that the situation remains fluid and both India and Pakistan are currently "prisoners of their own rhetoric."
He adds that there are discussions of potential targeted Indian missile strikes but there are concerns of the reaction it would illicit from Pakistan.
"India will be weighing its options and Modi may be looking to be a hawk, but they are weighing all the options before going for something," Swami said.
SEE ALSO: As India-Pakistan Tensions Soar, Dozens Of Afghan Insurgents Killed Crossing BorderAmid the rising tensions and escalating rhetoric, Indian and Pakistani military forces in the region have exchanged gunfire across the LoC repeatedly over the past six days.
"We have reinforced our forces because it is something which is imminent now. So in that situation some strategic decisions have to be taken, so those decisions have been taken," Defense Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif told Reuters in an April 28 interview.
Pakistani state television also claimed Indian fighter jets conducted patrols near the border in Kashmir under its jurisdiction during the early hours of April 29.
How Are Countries Responding To India-Pakistan Tensions?
The UN warned of potentially "catastrophic" consequences on April 29 if the two countries escalated into war.
"The region and the world cannot afford a confrontation between India and Pakistan, which would be catastrophic for the two countries and for the world as a whole," said Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antontio Guterres, referring to the two nuclear-armed neighbors.
SEE ALSO: Russia, China, India Vying For Influence In Afghanistan As Taliban Seeks LegitimacyHe said Guterres held separate phone calls with Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, India's foreign minister.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio asked the two countries "not to escalate the situation," spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said during an April 29 press briefing.
She said Rubio would speak with both the Indian and Pakistani foreign ministers "as early as today or tomorrow."
SEE ALSO: As India-Pakistan Tensions Soar, Dozens Of Afghan Insurgents Killed Crossing BorderChina, which itself claims control of part of Kashmir and has grown closer to Pakistan in recent years, has also urged restraint.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi spoke to Pakistan’s deputy prime minister and foreign minister last week, saying any conflict between Pakistan and India would "not serve the fundamental interests of each side" and posed a risk to regional security.