Pakistan says it has ‘credible intelligence’ India will attack within days
By PRABHJOT GILL SHEIKH SAALIQ and MUNIR AHMED Associated Press ATTARI India AP Pakistan disclosed Wednesday it had credible intelligence that India is planning to attack it within days as soldiers exchanged gunfire along borders and Pakistanis heeded New Delhi s orders to leave the country following last week s deadly attack in Indian-controlled Kashmir India s moves to punish Pakistan after accusing it of backing the attack in Pahalgam which Islamabad denies have driven tensions between the nuclear-armed rivals to their highest point since when they came close to war after a suicide car bombing in Kashmir The region is split between India and Pakistan and claimed by both in its entirety An Indian paramilitary soldier stands guard at a temporary checkpoint in Srinagar Indian controlled Kashmir Wednesday April AP Photo Dar Yasin Calls for de-escalation Pakistan commented the intelligence shows that India plans military action against it in the next to hours on the pretext of baseless and concocted charges of involvement There was no immediate comment from Indian agents However Indian governing body executives disclosed Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given complete operational freedom to the armed forces to decide on the mode targets and timing of India s response to the Pahalgam massacre They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive deliberations Last week s attack was claimed by a previously unknown militant group calling itself the Kashmir Resistance New Delhi describes all militancy in Indian-controlled Kashmir as Pakistan-backed terrorism Pakistan denies this and multiple Muslim Kashmiris consider the militants to be part of a homegrown freedom struggle United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in separate phone calls with India and Pakistan stressed the need to avoid a confrontation that could consequence in tragic consequences The U S State Department also called for de-escalation and revealed Secretary of State Marco Rubio would be speaking to the Indian and Pakistani foreign ministers Pakistanis forced to leave The deadline for Pakistani citizens to leave India with exceptions for those with clinical visas passed on Sunday but plenty of families were still scrambling to the limit overcoming in Attari town in northern Punjab state Particular arrived on their own Others were being deported by police We have settled our families here We request the establishment not to uproot our families disclosed Sara Khan a Pakistani who was ordered back without her husband Aurangzeb Khan who holds an Indian passport She carried her -day-old child and declared she had been living in Indian-controlled Kashmir since They Indian agents reported me you are illegal and you should go declared Khan while waiting on the Indian side of the margin navigating Tensions between India and Pakistan have escalated after gunmen killed people the majority of them Indian tourists near the resort town of Pahalgam The massacre set off tit-for-tat diplomatic measures that included the cancellation of visas and a recall of diplomats New Delhi suspended a crucial water-sharing treaty with Islamabad and ordered its boundary shut with Pakistan In response Pakistan has closed its airspace to Indian airlines Cross-border exchanges of gunfire between soldiers have increased along the Line of Control the de facto frontier that separates Kashmiri territory between the two rivals Fire along the frontier On Wednesday India and Pakistan accused each other of initiating the gunfire Pakistan s state-run media noted Indian forces violated the ceasefire agreement along the Line of Control by initiating fire with heavy weapons According to Pakistan Television Pakistani troops returned fire after coming under attack overnight in the Mandal sector of Pakistan-controlled Kashmir Meanwhile the Indian army commented it responded to unprovoked small arms fire from Pakistan in the Naushera Sunderbani and Akhnoor sectors of Indian-controlled Kashmir The incidents could not be independently verified In the past each side has accused the other of starting demarcation skirmishes in the Himalayan region India s cabinet committee on defense headed by Modi met Wednesday It was the second such meeting since the attack Witness accounts At least three tourists who survived notified The Associated Press that the gunmen singled out Hindu men and shot them from close range The dead also included a Nepalese citizen and a local Muslim pony ride operator Aishanya Dwivedi whose husband was killed announced a gunman approached the couple and challenged him to recite the Islamic declaration of faith Her husband replied that he was Hindu and the attacker shot him point blank in the head she explained He was on my lap I was soaked in his blood Dwivedi announced Saaliq shared from New Delhi Ahmed communicated from Islamabad Associated Press writer Rajesh Roy in New Delhi contributed to this statement
