Pakistan-India news: Tensions rise around Kashmir conflict as both countries claim to shoot down each other's military jets
Risk of conflict rises dramatically
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India has accused Pakistan of an “unprovoked act of aggression” after both countries claimed to have shot down each other’s military jets.
Islamabad captured an Indian pilot a day after Indian warplanes struck inside Pakistan for the first time since a 1971 war.
Tension has been running high since a suicide car bombing by Pakistan-based militants in Indian-controlled Kashmir killed at least 40 Indian paramilitary police earlier this month.
But the risk of conflict rose dramatically on Tuesday when India launched an air strike on what it said was a militant training base.
New Delhi claimed at least 300 militants were killed in Tuesday’s strike, while Pakistan says no one was killed.
Pakistan shoots down Indian fighter jets: Reaction in pictures
Show all 28The White House condemned the intensifying conflict and urged “both sides to take immediate steps to de-escalate the situation”.
Pakistan’s envoy to the United States, Asad Majeed Khan, said Islamabad would like to see the Trump administration play a more active role in easing the crisis. “We would certainly like to have more, and would certainly like to see more active involvement of the United States,” he told reporters.
At the same time, he said the lack of US condemnation of India’s strike on Pakistan is “construed and understood as an endorsement of the Indian position, and that is what emboldened them even more.”
Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan called for talks with India and hoped “better sense” would prevail so that both sides could de-escalate.
“History tells us that wars are full of miscalculation. My question is that, given the weapons we have, can we afford miscalculation,” Mr Khan said during a brief televised broadcast to the nation. “We should sit down and talk.”
The Pakistan government’s official Twitter account released a video of a man it claimed was an Indian pilot who had been shot down.
The man, whom Pakistan has named as Wing Commander Abhi Nandan and whose face was bloodied and blindfolded, gives his name and service number before telling a man questioning him: “I’m sorry sir, that’s all I’m supposed to tell you.”
A statement from India’s foreign ministry said the pilot’s treatment was a “vulgar display of an injured personnel of the Indian Air Force in violation of all norms of international humanitarian law and the Geneva Convention,” ordering his immediate release. India has not yet named the pilot.
Pakistan and India have fought three wars since independence from British colonial rule in 1947, two over the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir, and went to the brink of a fourth in 2002 after a Pakistani militant attack on India’s parliament.
The latest escalation marks a sudden turnaround in relations between the two countries, both of which claim Kashmir in full, but only rule in part.
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He isn't the only politician tweeting about the pilot.
Akhilesh Yadav, the socialist leader of India and the former chief minister of Uttar Pradesh has also tweeted:
Kate Hudson from the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament has warned the current escalation could result in a nuclear exchange.
"We've been here before. India and Pakistan came close to nuclear war in the 2001-2002 standoff, where one side refused to rule out a first strike.
That Pakistan’s Prime Minister has met today with his country's nuclear weapons body, is a strong indication of how real the threat of nuclear war is.
Nuclear weapons, far from deterring war, make conflicts more dangerous than they would otherwise be. There is an urgent need for diplomacy in this precarious situation."
The Pakistani military are now saying they only have one Indian pilot in custody. They had previously claimed they had two.
A statement from the Indian foreign ministry has called the video that was released of their pilot a "vulgar display" and said that the Pakistan air raid today was an "unprovoked act of aggression".
Here is the statement in full:
The Acting High Commissioner of Pakistan was summoned this afternoon by the Ministry of External Affairs
to lodge a strong protest at the unprovoked act of aggression by Pakistan against India earlier today, including by violation of the Indian air space by Pakistan Air Force and targeting of Indian military posts.
This is in contrast to the India’s non-military anti-terror pre-emptive strike at a Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist camp in Balakot on 26 February 2019. It is unfortunate that instead of fulfilling its international obligation and bilateral commitment to take credible action against terrorist entities and individuals operating from its soil, Pakistan has acted with aggression against India.
It was clearly conveyed that India reserves the right to take firm and decisive action to protect its national security, sovereignty and territorial integrity against any act of aggression or cross-border terrorism.
India also strongly objected to Pakistan’s vulgar display of an injured personnel of the Indian Air Force in violation of all norms of International Humanitarian Law and the Geneva Convention. It was made clear that Pakistan would be well advised to ensure that no harm comes to the Indian defence personnel in its custody. India also expects his immediate and safe return.
Regret was expressed at continuing denial by Pakistan’s political and and military leadership at the presence of terrorist infrastructure in territories under its control. A dossier was handed over to Pakistan side with specific details of Jaish-e-Mohammed complicity in Pulwama terror attack and the presence of Jaish-e-Mohammed terror camps and its leadership in Pakistan. It was conveyed that India expects Pakistan to take immediate and verifiable action against terrorism emanating from territories under its control.
Britain's junior Foreign Office minister Mark Field said he will speak with Indian and Pakistani envoys on Wednesday to urge their countries to exercise restraint after both sides said they shot down each other's fighter jets.
Both countries have ordered air strikes over the last two days, the first time in history that two nuclear-armed powers have done so, while ground forces have exchanged fire in more than a dozen locations.
I shall be speaking to both the Indian and Pakistani High Commissioners this afternoon and will continue to press for the importance of restraint."
Here is some background information about Kashmir.
After partition of the subcontinent in 1947, Kashmir was expected to go to Pakistan, as other Muslim majority regions did.
Its Hindu ruler wanted to stay independent but, faced with an invasion by Muslim tribesmen from Pakistan, hastily acceded to India in October 1947 in return for help against the invaders.
Just a reminder of where we are - India and Pakistan both said they shot down each other's fighter jets on Wednesday, with Pakistan capturing an Indian pilot a day after Indian warplanes struck inside Pakistan for the first time since a 1971 war, prompting world powers to urge restraint.
International leaders have spoken out and urged the two nations to communicate to prevent a war breaking out.
India is building more than 14,000 bunkers suitable for families living along its border with Pakistan in Jammu and Kashmir state, hoping to keep them safe near their homes instead of evacuating them as artillery shells scream over.
On Tuesday evening, Pakistan used heavy calibre weapons to shell 12 to 15 places along the Indian side of the de facto border known as the Line of Control (LoC) that divides the disputed Kashmir region, a spokesman for the Indian defence forces said. The Indian army retaliated with its own shelling of the Pakistani side, he said.
That had created "panic among people", said Rahul Yadav, the deputy commissioner of the Poonch district, a remote area of the Indian state that faced some of the attacks.
A reminder that there is a UN-monitored ceasefire line in Kashmir that was agreed in 1972, called the Line of Control (LOC).
It splits Kashmir into two areas - one administered by India, one by Pakistan. Their armies have for decades faced off over the LOC.
In 1999, the two were involved in a battle along the LOC that some analysts called an undeclared war. Their forces exchanged regular gunfire over the LOC until a truce in late 2003, which has largely held since.
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