Pakistan says ‘credible intelligence’ suggests India attack looming

Tensions between the nuclear-armed nations are now at their highest since 2019, when they came to the brink of war following a suicide car bombing in Kashmir.

Pakistan said Wednesday it had “credible intelligence” that India is planning an attack within days, and promised to retaliate “very strongly,” as soldiers exchanged gunfire along the Line of Control that divides the contested region of Kashmir.

The military escalation follows a tourist terror attack in the historically strife-ridden territory of Kashmir, where gunmen opened fire, killing 26 people on April 22. A group named The Resistance Front, an offshoot of the Pakistan-based terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba, has taken responsibility.

The fatal incident led to a downgrade in diplomacy between the two nations, with orders made by both Indian and Pakistani officials last week to revoke visas for their respective citizens to each other’s countries.

Islamabad was prompted to ban Indian nationals after New Delhi suspended a water-sharing treaty, the Indus Waters Treaty, between the two nations.

India also announced that it was cutting diplomatic staff and closing the only usable land border crossing between it and Pakistan.

In response, Pakistan shut down its airspace for all Indian-owned or Indian-operated airlines and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third-party country.

Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh pledged Wednesday to “not only trace those who perpetrated the attack but also trace those who conspired to commit this nefarious act on our soil,” and hinted at the possibility of military strikes, according to the Associated Press.

Pakistan’s National Security Committee condemned India’s “belligerent measures.” It said that while Pakistan remained committed to peace, it would never allow anyone to “transgress its sovereignty, security, dignity and inalienable rights.”