Pakistan denies attack on Indian-administered Kashmir after explosions reported in Jammu city – live updates
Pakistan denies attack on Indian-administered Kashmir
Here’s more from Pakistan’s defence minister, Khawaja Asif, after reports of explosions in Jammu city in Indian-administered Kashmir.
Asif has denied Pakistan is responsible for any attack in Indian-administered Kashmir. He told the BBC:
We deny it, we have not mounted anything so far.
“We will not strike and then deny,” Asif said, adding that “it will be known all over the world” when Pakistan decides to attack.
Key events
Meta has blocked a major Muslim Instagram page in India amid a rising conflict between India and Pakistan.
Agence France-Presse reports:
Meta has banned a prominent Muslim news page on Instagram in India at the government’s request, the account’s founder said on Wednesday, denouncing the move as “censorship” as hostilities escalate between India and Pakistan.
Instagram users in India trying to access posts from the handle @Muslim – a page with 6.7 million followers – were met with a message stating: “Account not available in India. This is because we complied with a legal request to restrict this content.”
There was no immediate reaction from the Indian government on the ban, which comes after access was blocked to the social media accounts of Pakistani actors and cricketers.
“I received hundreds of messages, emails and comments from our followers in India, that they cannot access our account,” Ameer Al-Khatahtbeh, the news account’s founder and editor-in-chief, said in a statement. “Meta has blocked the @Muslim account by legal request of the Indian government. This is censorship.”
Meta declined to comment. A spokesperson for the tech giant directed Agence France-Presse to a company webpage outlining its policy for restricting content when governments believe material on its platforms goes “against local law”.
For the full story, click here:
Summary of the day so far
It’s nearly 11.30pm in Islamabad and midnight in New Delhi. Here’s a recap of the latest developments:
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Explosions were reported across the city of Jammu in Indian-administered Kashmir late on Thursday, plunging the city into a blackout. India’s military claimed it intercepted a Pakistani drone and missile attack targeting three military bases in Jammu and Udhampur in Indian-administered Kashmir, and Pathankot in India’s Punjab district.
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Pakistan’s defence minister, Khawaja Asif, denied his country was responsible for any attack in Indian-administered Kashmir. “We will not strike and then deny,” Asif told the BBC on Thursday, adding that “it will be known all over the world” when Pakistan decides to attack. Pakistani security sources said India’s claims were aimed at creating a “misleading narrative” that Pakistan is carrying out strikes in India.
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Asif warned, however, of a “vivid and clear possibility” that Pakistan’s “confrontation will expand” with India. Earlier on Thursday he said Pakistani retaliation against Indian attacks “is increasingly becoming certain now” after both countries accused each other of launching drone attacks.
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India’s defence minister, Rajnath Singh, defended his nation’s recent actions and did not rule out further Indian military action. “We have always played the role of a responsible nation,” he said in a statement on Thursday. “If anyone tries to take advantage of our patience, then they will have to be fully prepared to face action just like yesterday.”
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Pakistan and India accused each other of overnight drone and missile attacks, marking a stark escalation of the conflict between the two nuclear-armed nations after Indian missile strikes on Pakistan in the early hours of Wednesday killed 31 people.
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Pakistan’s military spokesperson accused India of “yet another blatant military act of aggression” in sending dozens of drones overnight over major cities including Rawalpindi, where Pakistan’s military has its headquarters. Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said Pakistan’s air defence systems had brought down 25 drones, and a confrontation with another airborne Indian device had left four Pakistani soldiers injured. He said a civilian in the Miano area of Sindh died in an incident involving a drone.
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India alleged that Pakistan had attempted to launch drones and missiles at 15 military targets in its north and west, including in the cities of Amritsar, Srinagar and Chandigarh. It said its air defence systems stopped all the attacks. Pakistan denied the allegations it had launched any strikes into India.
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A senior Pakistani security official told the Guardian that Pakistan had not yet begun its offensive retaliation against India for the missile and drone attacks, but was clear that action would now be taken. “We have not fired any missiles or drone attacks inside India or any military installations,” said the official. “This is fake news from Indian authorities. The offensive response will come now.”
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The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, “emphasised the need for immediate de-escalation” as he held separate calls with Pakistan’s prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, and India’s external affairs minister, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, on Thursday.
Pakistan denies attack on Indian-administered Kashmir
Here’s more from Pakistan’s defence minister, Khawaja Asif, after reports of explosions in Jammu city in Indian-administered Kashmir.
Asif has denied Pakistan is responsible for any attack in Indian-administered Kashmir. He told the BBC:
We deny it, we have not mounted anything so far.
“We will not strike and then deny,” Asif said, adding that “it will be known all over the world” when Pakistan decides to attack.
Pakistan’s defence minister, Khawaja Asif, has warned that escalation is “imminent” as he blamed India for continuing its “aggression”.
Asif told Al Jazeera:
I have no doubt in my mind now that escalation is imminent because of the continuation of aggression from the Indian side, both on the ground and by sending drones today all over Pakistan.
Before that, they attacked us with almost 78 planes … and five planes were downed by our air force. So this has been going on for the last three to four days.
“There is a very vivid and clear possibility that this confrontation will expand,” he added.
As we reported, Asif said earlier on Thursday that Pakistani retaliation against Indian attacks “is increasingly becoming certain now”, adding:
I will still refrain from saying it is 100%. But the situation has become very difficult. We have to respond.
Here is an image from the city of Jammu in Indian-administered Kashmir, where a blackout is in place following earlier reports of explosions and sirens.
Indian military says Pakistan launched missile and drone attacks on three military bases
The Indian armed forces said it neutralised missile and drone attacks by Pakistan on military stations in Jammu and Udhampur in Indian-administered Kashmir, and Pathankot in India’s Punjab district.
India’s defence unit said in a post on X:
Military Stations of Jammu, Pathankot and Udhampur in proximity to the International Boundary, in Jammu & Kashmir targeted by Pakistan using missiles and drones.
Protesters are expected to gather in central London this week to demonstrate against a potential war between India and Pakistan.
The South Asia Solidarity Group (SASG) announced an “emergency peace demonstration” will take place in Parliament Square on Saturday to “say no to war in the region and stand in solidarity with the Kashmiri people both sides of the border bearing the brunt of the violence”.
A Muslim Council of Britain spokesperson said in response to the protest announcement:
Now more than ever, it’s vital that communities come together to build bridges, not barriers, and work towards a just and lasting peace in the region.
The Metropolitan police said they would be engaging with organisers and would deploy officers if necessary, PA media reports.
We reported earlier that there were reports of explosions, blackouts and sirens in the city of Jammu in Indian-administered Kashmir.
Indian military sources told Reuters they suspected a Pakistani drone attack across the region, with several parts of Jammu and the surrounding towns of Akhnoor, Samba and Kathua affected. An Indian official told the news agency:
Our army installations are under attack, it is happening in five districts of Jammu [region].
Pakistani security sources have described reports of attacks in Jammu as “fabricated, baseless and a deliberate attempt to mislead”, Geo News reports.
They told the Pakistani news outlet that the claims were aimed at creating a “misleading narrative” that Pakistan is carrying out strikes in India. They said:
These fake reports are designed to justify India’s ongoing aggression against Pakistan by creating a false pretext … There is no truth to these fabricated claims.
US urges ‘immediate de-escalation’ between India and Pakistan
The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, “emphasised the need for immediate de-escalation” as he held separate calls with Pakistan’s prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, and India’s external affairs minister, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, on Thursday.
A readout of the call between Rubio and Jaishankar by the US state department reads:
The Secretary emphasized the need for immediate de-escalation. He expressed US support for direct dialogue between India and Pakistan and encouraged continued efforts to improve communications.
Rubio “reiterated his condolences for the horrific terrorist attack in Pahalgam and reaffirmed the United States’ commitment to work with India in the fight against terrorism,” the readout says.
A top Chinese-made Pakistani fighter shot down at least two Indian military aircraft on Wednesday, Reuters reports, citing US officials.
A US official told the news agency that there was high confidence that Pakistan had used the Chinese-made J-10 aircraft to launch air-to-air missiles against Indian fighter jets, bringing down at least two.
Another official said at least one Indian jet that was shot down was a French-made Rafale fighter aircraft.
India has not acknowledged the loss of any of its planes.
A blackout is affecting Jammu city in Indian-administered Kashmir amid reports of multiple explosions.
Blackouts are also affecting the cities of Hoshiarpur and Amritsar in the Punjab state, the Hindustan Times reports.
Explosions reported in Jammu city in Indian-administered Kashmir
Reports are coming in of multiple blasts and sirens heard in the city of Jammu in Indian-administered Kashmir.
A security source told Agence France-Presse that there were explosions at an airport in Jammu.
A witness told Reuters they saw red flashes and projectiles in the night sky above the city.
Residents told the Associated Press that they heard explosions and sirens, while local news channels reported suspected drones flying overhead in the city.
Shesh Paul Vaid, the region’s former director-general of police, said the city was witnessing a complete blackout after loud explosions.
“Bombing, shelling, or missile strikes suspected,” he wrote on social media.
India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, called for “continued alertness” and “clear communication” during a meeting with government ministers on Thursday.
Modi reaffirmed his government’s commitment to national security and operational preparedness during the high-level meeting, the Hindustan Times reported.
They marked his first comments since the recent escalation in hostilities between India and Pakistan.
The meeting also covered issues including the strengthening of civil defence mechanisms, efforts to counter misinformation and fake news, and ensuring the security of critical infrastructure, according to the Indian prime minister’s office.
The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, called Pakistan’s prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, on Thursday and stressed the need for India and Pakistan to work closely to de-escalate their conflict, Sharif’s office said in a statement.
Flights remained suspended at more than two dozen airports across northern and western regions in India, according to travel advisories by multiple airlines.
Pakistan resumed flights nationwide after a suspension at four airports, according to the Civil Aviation Authority.
Here is another image from Uri, in the India-controlled portion of Kashmir, where it appears that shelling from Pakistan has destroyed residential buildings.
Reuters is carrying the quote from Pakistan’s defence minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif now, reporting that he said Pakistani retaliation “is increasingly becoming certain now. I will still refrain from saying it is 100%. But the situation has become very difficult. We have to respond.”
India’s ministry of information and broadcasting has issued a notice instructing that over-the-top media services, i.e. those that digitally distribute content to users directly over the internet, must remove content that originates from Pakistan.
In a statement the ministry said:
In the interest of national security, all OTT platforms, media streaming platforms and intermediaries operating in India are advised to discontinue the web-series, films, songs, podcasts and other streaming media content, whether made available on a subscription based model or otherwise, having its origins in Pakistan with immediate effect.
