Tag: India

The UK is ready to support India and Pakistan to de-escalate tensions following an exchange of fire over Kashmir, a Cabinet minister has said.

Officials said at least 19 people have been killed and 38 wounded after India fired missiles across the border into Pakistani-controlled territory in at least six locations overnight.

Pakistani forces were reported to have shelled Indian-controlled Kashmir.

The escalation in the conflict between the two nuclear-armed powers follows last month’s massacre of tourists in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir.

New Delhi has blamed Pakistan for the attack, which killed 22 people, but Islamabad has denied responsibility.

On Wednesday, Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said his Cabinet colleague David Lammy had reached out to both nations in an effort to avoid further escalation, as U.S. and European figures.

Reynolds told the BBC the situation in Kashmir was “hugely worrying, our message will be that we are a friend, a partner to both countries.

“We stand ready to support both countries.

“Both have a huge interest in regional stability, in dialogue, in de-escalation and anything we can do to support that, we are here and willing to do.”

Meanwhile, the Foreign Office has updated its travel advice for the region, warning against all travel within 10 kilometres of the India-Pakistan border, 10 miles of the Line of Control.

The de facto border divides disputed Kashmir between the two countries and the Balochistan province of Pakistan.

Pakistan had also closed its airspace, with the Foreign Office advising affected Britons to contact their airline for further information.

Scotland’s First Minister John Swinney and Labour MP Stella Creasy said they were deeply concerned by the escalation in violence, while former Conservative minister Tariq Ahmad warned the “potential for war tonight is real.”

Pakistani officials said the strikes hit at least two sites previously tied to banned militant groups.

One hit the Subhan Mosque in the city of Bahawalpur in Punjab, killing 13 people including a child, according to Zohaib Ahmed, a doctor at a nearby hospital.

India launched military strikes on Pakistan on Wednesday and Pakistan claimed it shot down five Indian Air Force jets, in an escalation that has pushed the two nations to the brink of a wider conflict.

The escalation puts India and Pakistan, two neighbors with a long history of conflict, in dangerous territory, with Islamabad vowing to retaliate against India’s strikes and the international community calling for restraint.

New Delhi said the strikes are in response to the massacre of 26 people – mostly Indian tourists – who died in April when gunmen stormed a scenic mountain spot in the India-administered part of Kashmir, a disputed border region.

India has blamed Pakistan for the attack, which Islamabad denies.

What happened with India’s strikes?

India launched “Operation Sindoor” in the early hours of Wednesday morning local time (Tuesday night ET) in both Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

Indian officials said nine sites were targeted, but claimed no Pakistani civilian, economic or military sites were struck.

They said the 25-minute operation targeted “terrorist infrastructure” belonging to two militant groups – Lashkar-e-Tayyiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed.

The name ‘Sindoor’ appears to be a reference to the red vermilion, or powder, many Hindu women wear on their foreheads after marriage. The April tourist massacre – which singled out men as victims – left several Indian women widowed.

But Pakistan is painting a different picture of the strikes – saying civilians were killed and mosques were hit. CNN has yet to verify those claims.

A Pakistani military spokesperson said six locations were hit with 24 strikes. Some of those strikes hit the densely populated province of Punjab, Pakistan’s military said, and were the deepest India has struck inside Pakistan since 1971, when the two countries fought one of their four wars.

How did Pakistan respond?

Pakistani security sources claimed they had shot down five Indian Air Force jets and one drone during India’s attack.

They did not say exactly where, or how, the jets were downed – but said three Rafale jets were among those planes. India’s Rafale fighter jets are prized military assets that it bought from France only a few years ago.

India has not confirmed any planes were lost. CNN has not been able to verify the claim and has reached out to India’s government and military for comment.

An eyewitness and local government official said an unidentified aircraft crashed in the village of Wuyan in Indian-administered Kashmir. Photos published by the AFP news agency showed aircraft wreckage lying in a field next to a red-brick building.

It was not immediately clear from the photos who the aircraft belonged to.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Wednesday the country “has every right” to respond, calling India’s actions an “act of war.”

Casualties

At least 26 civilians were killed and 46 injured by India’s strikes, a Pakistan military spokesperson said, according to the news agency Reuters.

Lt. Gen. Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, a spokesperson for Pakistan’s military, said those killed include teenagers and children – the youngest of whom was three years old.

Eight civilians in Indian-administered Kashmir were also killed by shelling by Pakistani troops from across the border, a senior Indian defense source told CNN.