“It’s a race for military one-upmanship”: Srinagar, Pakistan, and the country’s airports
Srinagar appeared calm early Saturday but some residents who live near the city’s airport said they were rattled by the loud sound of fighter jets.
“I was already awake but the explosions jolted my kids out of their sleep. Mohammed Yasin, a resident of Srinagar, said that they started crying and he heard at least two explosions.
Praveen Donthi, a senior analyst with the International Crisis Group for India, said the two countries were at war even if they had not yet labelled it as one.
“It’s become a remorseless race for military one-upmanship with no apparent strategic end goals from either side,” said Donthi. Finding a exit or an off ramp is going to be difficult with both sides having increased civilian casualties.
India’s army said it destroyed the armed drones that were seen flying over the cantonment in Amritsar.
In Pakistan, the civil aviation authority shut the country’s airports for all flight operations and people in major cities were seen chanting slogans supporting the armed forces.
Udhampur, Kashmir: “Air Forces” and Air Forces remain Safe in the Presence of Indian-Pakistan Forces
The Group of Seven nations, or G7, urged “maximum restraint” from India and Pakistan. There was a serious threat to regional stability posed by further military escalation.
Pakistan said that India launched missiles at three air bases in the country but most of them were shot down. India blames Pakistan for last month’s massacre that it says is caused by Pakistan.
Pakistan’s military had said it used medium-range Fateh missiles to hit an Indian missile storage facility and air bases in the cities of Pathankot and Udhampur. The country’s air force assets were not at risk because of the Indian assault, said the army spokesman.
The air force assets in Pakistan were safe following the Indian strikes, according to the army spokesman.
State-run Pakistan Television reported that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has convened a meeting of the National Command Authority, the body responsible for overseeing the country’s missile program and other strategic assets.
Tensions have soared since the attack at a popular tourist site in Indian-controlled Kashmir left 26 civilians dead, mostly Indian Hindu tourists, on April 22.
State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said Rubio continued to urge both parties to “find ways to deescalate and offered U.S. assistance in starting constructive talks” in order to avoid future conflicts.
The call for calm came ahead of Saturday’s Indian missile strikes, which targeted Nur Khan air base in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, near the capital Islamabad, Murid air base in Chakwal city and Rafiqui air base in the Jhang district of eastern Punjab province, according to Pakistan’s military spokesman.
There was no access by the media to the air base in Rawalpindi, a densely populated city, where there were no immediate reports of residents hearing or seeing the strike.
Kashmir – the diplomatic status of a ceasefire and the tension between India and Pakistan after the massacre of tourists in July 2001 had been strained by the ceasefire
The ceasefire had been expected to bring a swift end to weeks of escalating clashes, including missile and drone strikes, triggered by the massacre of tourists by gunmen last month that India blames on Pakistan, which denies the charge. But multiple explosions were heard in two large cities of Indian-controlled Kashmir hours after the countries agreed to the deal.
Shesh Paul vaid said that “explosions that we are hearing today are different from the ones we heard last two nights.” “It looks like a war here.”
Omar Abdullah, Indian-controlled Kashmir’s top elected official, welcomed the ceasefire. But he said had it happened two or three days earlier “we might have avoided the bloodshed and the loss of precious lives.”
Before the ceasefire was reached Saturday, India’s military held a press briefing in New Delhi, saying Pakistan had targeted health facilities and schools at its three air bases in Kashmir.
After days of tension, the truce was praised by Pakistan’s army as a moment of national pride and relief.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he and Vice President JD Vance had engaged with senior officials from both countries over the past 48 hours. Narendra Modi and Sharif were included along with India’s External AffairsMinister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and the Chief of Army Staff of Pakistan.
Since gaining independence from British India in 1947, India and Pakistan have periodically engaged in wars, clashed and skirmishes, but this is not unusual.
The heads of military operations from the two countries agreed that they wouldn’t fire on land, and wouldn’t do it in the air or sea.
The two countries agreed to a truce a day earlier after talks to defuse the most serious military confrontation between them in decades following a gun massacre of tourists that India blames on Pakistan, which denies the charge.
The ministry believes that the issues in the smooth implementation of the ceasefire should be addressed at appropriate levels.
Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry blamed Indian forces for the ceasefire violation. The ministry said Pakistan remains committed to the agreement and its forces were handling the situation with responsibility and restraint.
“Pakistan has been accused of breaching the agreement after repeated violations of the understanding arrived between the two countries”, said Mr. Misri late Saturday.
There were reports of heavy exchanges of fire between Indian and Pakistani troops, which straddles the Line of Control. The fighting subsided by Sunday morning.
As part of the ceasefire, the nuclear-armed neighbors agreed to immediately stop all firing and military action on land, in the air and at sea. They accused each other of repeatedly violating the deal.
India versus the U.S. in the war on the Bald, or What the Taliban and the Pakistanis are saying about the India-Pakistan deal
India, unlike Pakistan, has not said anything about Trump or the U.S. since the deal was announced. India has military contact with the Pakistan’s.
The Line of Control is marked by razor wire and watchtowers that snakes across the foothills of tangled bushes and forests, and both armies have engaged in daily fighting since Wednesday.