LAHORE: Pakistan and India accused each other of launching drone attacks on Thursday (May 8), and Islamabad’s Defence Minister said further retaliation was “increasingly certain”, on the second day of major clashes between the nuclear-armed neighbours.
Pakistan said it shot down 25 drones from India, while India said its air defences had stopped Pakistani drone and missile attacks on military targets, dashing hopes they would soon bow to pressure to end their worst confrontation in more than two decades.
World powers from the US to Russia and China have called for calm in one of the world’s most dangerous, and most populated, nuclear flashpoint regions. The US Consulate General in Pakistan’s Lahore ordered staff to shelter in place.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke with both Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar on Thursday, urging immediate deescalation and dialogue. He also called on Islamabad to end support for terrorist groups and expressed sorrow over civilian casualties.
Tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbours have soared since gunmen killed 26 people, mostly Indian Hindu tourists, in India-controlled Kashmir last month. India accused Pakistan of being behind the assault. Islamabad denies that.
Indian strikes on Wednesday killed 31 civilians, including women and children, and wounded about 50 others, according to Pakistani officials. More people were killed on both sides of the border in heavy exchanges of fire that followed. It was their worst confrontation since 2019, when the rivals came close to war.
Pakistan denied that any of the sites hit by India on Wednesday were militant bases. It said it shot down five Indian aircraft, a report the Indian embassy in Beijing dismissed as “misinformation”.
Pakistani retaliation “is increasingly becoming certain now,” Pakistan’s Defence Minister, Khawaja Muhammad Asif, told Reuters. “I will still refrain from saying it is 100 per cent. But the situation has become very difficult. We have to respond.”
In a statement issued late Thursday, the Pakistan government said it “will not be deterred by attempts to provoke, intimidate or mislead” and reserves the right to respond to acts of aggression.
