India may launch a military action against Pakistan in the next 24 to 36 hours, a high-ranking Pakistani official said on Wednesday, April 30. They warned against such a “dangerous path of irrationality and confrontation” while asserting it may lead to “catastrophic consequences” for the whole region and beyond.
“Pakistan has credible intelligence that India intends to carry out military action against Pakistan in the next 24-36 hours on the pretext of baseless and concocted allegations of involvement in the Pahalgam incident,” Pakistan’s Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said in a televised speech on Wednesday, April 30.
India has accused Pakistan of orchestrating the April 22 attacks on Pahalgam, which killed 26 people, mostly tourists, and has launched several diplomatic measures in response, including suspending the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty between the two countries.
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a high-level meeting with the country’s armed forces’ chiefs on Tuesday. Indian armed forces have the government’s full confidence and “complete operational freedom to decide on the mode, targets, and timing” of India’s response, Modi was reported saying by the Hindu.
Indian media and the ruling Hindu-supremacist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been calling for “revenge” against Pakistan ever since the attacks. This is despite the questions raised by most of the opposition parties and anti-war groups in the region demanding internal accountability. Most of them have called the attacks on Pahalgam a result of the failure of the Indian government.
Pakistan has accused the BJP of trying to use the occasion for its political gains in India. “Consciously making strategic decisions hostage to public sentiments, purposefully trumped up for scoring political objectives, is unfortunate and deplorable,” Pakistani Minister Tarar stated.
Pakistan has denied any involvement in the attacks and claimed such allegations are baseless. Tarar said his country rejects “Indian self-assured hubristic role of judge, jury and executioner in the region” calling its moves so far “reckless” and demanding evidence to prove its allegations.
Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaza Asif has already warned his country’s forces are prepared to retaliate “imminent” attacks from India.
During a discussion in Pakistan’s parliament on Tuesday, Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar said his country will not initiate any attacks on India but reserves the right to retaliate in case of an attack, The Express Tribune reported.
Pakistan offers independent investigation
Pakistan has already retaliated against India’s diplomatic moves by banning its airspace for Indian aircrafts and asserting that it will take every step to make sure the Indus Waters Treaty is implemented as before.
“Pakistan has been the victim of terrorism itself and truly understands the pain of this,” Tarar said, repeating his country’s condemnation for the acts of violence and killing of tourists.
Tarar also reiterated his country’s offer of a “credible, transparent and independent investigation” to establish the facts of the Pahalgam incident. The offer was first made by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif earlier.
Tarar asked the international community to note that responsibility for any escalation in the region would rest on India.
Meanwhile, the Pakistan army claimed it shot down two Indian drones trying to cross the Line of Control (LOC) in Kashmir, Dawn reported. LOC is a de facto border between Pakistan Kashmir and Indian Kashmir.
Pakistan also publicly condemned attempted cyberattacks on government websites on Tuesday. The country’s Information Technology Minister Shaza Fatima alleged that the attacks were carried out by servers based in India.
Both countries have also acknowledged rising incidents of exchange of fire between their armed forces across the LOC in the last few days after years of relative calm.
Meanwhile, various progressive and left forces in the region have questioned the increasing war mongering and called for peace and diplomacy to resolve the outstanding issues.
“Modi’s belligerence has brought South Asia to the brink of war…this conflict will be a catastrophe for ordinary people in the region. May better sense prevail before it is too late,” said Ammar Ali Jan, leader of the Haqooq-E-Khalq Party (HKP) in a post on X on Wednesday.
Former prime minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan claimed that Pakistan has often offered its cooperation to fight the threat of violence in the region jointly “but it has failed to produce any concrete results.” He appealed to India to “act responsibly instead of messing with a region already known as a nuclear flashpoint.”
