Pakistan on Wednesday claimed it has received “credible intelligence” indicating that India is planning military action against it within the next 24 to 36 hours. In a strongly worded warning to New Delhi, Islamabad stated that any such move would have serious regional consequences.
The warning came shortly after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during a high-level meeting with top defence officials on Tuesday, said that the armed forces have “complete operational freedom” to determine the mode, targets, and timing of India’s response to last week’s terror attack in Pahalgam, which killed 26 people.
The terror strike has sharply escalated tensions between the two nuclear-armed neighbours. In the aftermath of the Pahalgam attack, India took a series of diplomatic and strategic measures against Pakistan. These included downgrading diplomatic ties, suspending the Indus Waters Treaty, shutting the Attari-Wagah border, and expelling all Pakistani military attachés. In retaliation, Pakistan implemented reciprocal steps and suspended the 1972 Simla Agreement.
In a statement posted on social media platform X, Pakistan’s Information Minister Attaullah Tarar asserted that any Indian aggression would be met with a “decisive response.” He added that India would bear full responsibility for any destabilizing consequences in the region.
“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. Any act of aggression will be met with a decisive response... India will be fully responsible for any serious consequences in the region,” Tarar stated. He emphasised that Pakistan has itself suffered deeply from terrorism and understands its devastating impact. “We have always condemned terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, anywhere in the world,” he said.
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Tarar also reiterated Pakistan’s offer to conduct a neutral and transparent investigation into the Pahalgam incident. “We have open-heartedly offered a credible, transparent, and independent investigation by a neutral commission of experts to ascertain the truth,” he said.
Calling on the global community to take note of the gravity of the situation, Tarar warned that the burden of any escalation would rest solely on India. “The onus of an escalatory spiral and its ensuing consequences shall squarely lie with India,” he added.
“The nation reiterates its resolve to defend the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Pakistan at all costs,” Tarar concluded. Meanwhile, Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif also issued a stark warning, suggesting that an Indian military incursion was imminent. He noted that Pakistan was on high alert and clarified that nuclear weapons would only be used if the country faced an existential threat.
Responding to the Pahalgam attack, Prime Minister Modi declared at a rally in Bihar on April 24 that India would “identify, track, and punish” all terrorists and their “backers,” pledging to pursue them to the “ends of the earth.”
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