Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif has said a military incursion by neighbouring India is inevitable following the killing of 26 tourists in Indian-controlled Kashmir.
“We have strengthened our forces because it is inevitable now. Hence, some strategic decisions have to be approved in this situation, so these decisions have already been approved,” he told Reuters.
Asif said India’s rhetoric was escalating and that the Pakistani military had notified the government of the possibility of an Indian attack. He did not go into detail about the reasons why he believes an invasion is inevitable.
India’s foreign and defence ministries did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Pakistan was on high alert but would use its nuclear weapons only if there was a “direct threat to our existence”, Asif said.
The minister added that Islamabad had reached out to friendly countries, including Gulf states and China, and had also briefed Britain, the United States and other countries about the situation.
“Some of our friends in the Gulf have spoken to both sides,” Asif said without naming the countries.
Relations between India and Pakistan have soured sharply since an armed attack on tourists in Indian-controlled Kashmir on 22 April, for which a little-known separatist group claimed responsibility.
Indian police claimed that the gunmen who carried out the attack were members of Pakistan’s Lashkar-e-Taiba, a UN-recognised terrorist organisation.
A day after the attack, New Delhi suspended a 60-year-old water-sharing treaty, announced the closure of a major land border crossing with Pakistan, worsened diplomatic ties and cancelled visas for Pakistanis.
Pakistan denied involvement in the attack and responded with its own countermeasures on 24 April by suspending visas for some Indian nationals and expelling some Indian diplomats and defence officials.
On 25 April, the Pakistani Senate unanimously passed a resolution “against linking the Pahalgam attack to Pakistan”.
Kashmir has been effectively divided between India and Pakistan (and partly China) since their independence from Britain in 1947. Two of the three wars between the two neighbouring nuclear powers occurred over the issue of control over the disputed territory.
Extremist groups have been active in the region for many years.