The Indian-Pakistan War on Nuclear Forces: A Response to an “Escalation by a Rival State” by the United States
In a briefing Friday, an Indian military officer said her country responded to what she termed an “escalation” by its rival by sending drones to four locations in Pakistan. There is an increase in the number of drones flying along the 760-mile stretch of border from the desert town of Jaisalmer in India’s northwest to the Himalayan peaks of Indian-held Kashmir.
Vance spoke on Fox News late Thursday, in response to a question about if the Trump administration was worried about nuclear conflict. “We want this thing to de-escalate as quickly as possible,” and added: “We can’t control these countries though.”
We will not get involved in the middle of a war that is not our business and has nothing to do with America’s ability to control it, because we want the people to de-escalate.
The Secretary of State said that he and the Vice President had met with leaders from both countries in the last 48 hours. They included Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as well as the External Affairs Minister from India, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and the Chief of Army Staff from Pakistan.
“This might embolden both sides,” Praveen Donthi, an India analyst for the International Crisis Group, said of Vance’s comments. He said that the Pakistan and India’s relations have been escalating for a long time and that there is no way to know when it will stop.
Arifa’s comments signaled a shift in foreign policy, she said. In previous escalatings, Washington worked to dial down tensions.
She thinks that there is no other option than for the United States to step into the vacuum and talk the two countries off the ledge. She described them as “two nuclear powers that are inherently in a very unstable situation.”
Pakistan was seen by India as the weaker party in its decades-long conflict with it over the disputed region of Kashmir. Both countries claim to control the Himalayan area, which is divided between them.
Pakistan said India launched missiles at three air bases in the country but most of the missiles were captured and the attacks on India were underway. It’s the latest escalation in a conflict triggered by a massacre last month that India blames on Pakistan.
The city of Okara in Pakistan was struck by projectiles on Friday. Residents filmed one careering across a field while emitting smoke, as young men ran out of the way. Two residents spoke with NPR, but both requested anonymity because they did not want to get in trouble with the authorities in Pakistan.
“There were dozens of fireballs in the sky,” said Gowher Ahmad, 43, of Jammu city, of the overnight barrage. Friday was quiet, but Ahmad said he feared the night.
Ajote, Kaur, Khari, and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq: Two Pakistanis and One in Srinagar
Jaspreet Kaur, from the border village of Ajote, said most of the 10,000 residents had fled. “The rest of us are huddled up in the basement of a three-story building,” she said. Karamat Hussain, from another border village, Khari, said many residents couldn’t flee, because they had to care for their livestock, like his elderly parents.
India seems to be cracking down on critics. Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, a prominent Kashmiri preacher who advocates independence for the territory, said he wasn’t allowed to attend communal Muslim Friday prayers in Indian held Kashmir. He shared a video of his previous Friday sermon, and wrote, “I urge both the countries to urgently de-escalate and not to tread on this dangerous path, which can only lead to destruction.”
The social media network X said in a message on its global affairs account that it had received executive orders from the Indian government to block thousands of accounts. A prominent Kashmir-based journalist, Anuradha Bhasin, and The Wire, an independent news site based in New Delhi appeared to have been blocked. The Indian authorities didn’t respond to questions.
Srinagar appeared calm early Saturday but some residents in neighborhoods close to the city’s airport, which is also an air base, said they were rattled by the explosions and booming sound of fighter jets.
The explosions woke my kids up and scared them off of sleep. They started crying,” said Srinagar resident Mohammed Yasin, adding he heard at least two explosions.
Singular clashes between India and Pakistan: the role of the G7, NATO and the Indian-Mexican security council (ICSC)
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.
Donthi said that it had become a remorseless race for military one-upmanship with no apparent strategic end goals from either side. “With increasing civilian casualties on both sides, finding an exit or off-ramp is going to be challenging.”
The Indian army said late Friday that drones were sighted in 26 locations across many areas in Indian states bordering Pakistan and Indian-controlled Kashmir, including Srinagar. It said the drones were tracked and engaged.
The civil aviation authority shut down the country’s airports for all flights, and people in major cities were chanting slogans for the armed forces.
The G7 urged maximum restraint from India and Pakistan. It warned Friday that further military escalation posed a serious threat to regional stability.
Pakistan’s military had claimed it hit a missile storage facility in Pathankot with medium-range missiles, while Udhampur’s air base was hit with missiles. Army spokesman Lt. Gen. Ahmad Sharif said the country’s air force assets were safe after the Indian assault.
The army spokesman said Pakistan’s air force assets are safe after the Indian strikes and that some of the missiles also hit India’s eastern Punjab.
The National Command Authority is a body responsible for overseeing the country’s missile program and other strategic assets.
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 media access to the air base in Rawalpindi, a densely populated city, and no immediate reports of residents hearing or seeing the strike or its aftermath.
“What the hell just happened to the ceasefire?” Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif told reporters “We will never forget” Kashmir
In Indian-controlled Kashmir, people said they heard loud blasts at different places in the area, including the two big cities of Srinagar and Jammu and the garrison town of Udhampur.
“Explosions that we are hearing today are different from the ones we heard the last two nights during drone attacks,” said Shesh Paul Vaid, the region’s former top police official and Jammu resident. “It looks like a war here.”
In a post on social media, the region’s top elected official said “What the hell just happened to the ceasefire?” Explosions heard across Srinagar!!!”
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.
The attack on the tourist site in Indian-controlled Kashmir on April 22 left 26 civilians dead, most of whom were Indian Hindu tourists.
After days of tension, Pakistanis celebrated the truce and said it was a celebration of their national pride.
Since gaining independence from British India in 1947, India and Pakistan have been involved in wars and skirmishes, which is not unique to the two countries.
Misri said the head of military operations from both countries spoke Saturday afternoon and agreed “that both sides would stop all firing and military action on land, and in the air and sea.”
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said in a speech Saturday that his country agreed to the ceasefire in the larger interest of peace in the region and hoped all the outstanding issues with India, including the long-running dispute over the Kashmir region, would be resolved through peaceful dialogue.
The ministry believes that communication is necessary to address any issues in the implementation of the ceasefire.
“We call upon Pakistan to take appropriate steps to address these violations and deal with the situation with seriousness and responsibility,” he said at a news conference in New Delhi. The Indian army retaliated for a border intrusion, according to Misri.
In a statement late Saturday, Indian Foreign Secretary said that Pakistan had violated the agreement and that it accused them of breaching it.