Pakistan-India news: Tensions rise around Kashmir conflict as both countries claim to shoot down each other's military jets
Risk of conflict rises dramatically
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Your support makes all the difference.India has accused Pakistan of an “unprovoked act of aggression” after both countries claimed to have shot down each other’s military jets.
Islamabad captured an Indian pilot a day after Indian warplanes struck inside Pakistan for the first time since a 1971 war.
Tension has been running high since a suicide car bombing by Pakistan-based militants in Indian-controlled Kashmir killed at least 40 Indian paramilitary police earlier this month.
But the risk of conflict rose dramatically on Tuesday when India launched an air strike on what it said was a militant training base.
New Delhi claimed at least 300 militants were killed in Tuesday’s strike, while Pakistan says no one was killed.
The White House condemned the intensifying conflict and urged “both sides to take immediate steps to de-escalate the situation”.
Pakistan’s envoy to the United States, Asad Majeed Khan, said Islamabad would like to see the Trump administration play a more active role in easing the crisis. “We would certainly like to have more, and would certainly like to see more active involvement of the United States,” he told reporters.
At the same time, he said the lack of US condemnation of India’s strike on Pakistan is “construed and understood as an endorsement of the Indian position, and that is what emboldened them even more.”
Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan called for talks with India and hoped “better sense” would prevail so that both sides could de-escalate.
“History tells us that wars are full of miscalculation. My question is that, given the weapons we have, can we afford miscalculation,” Mr Khan said during a brief televised broadcast to the nation. “We should sit down and talk.”
The Pakistan government’s official Twitter account released a video of a man it claimed was an Indian pilot who had been shot down.
The man, whom Pakistan has named as Wing Commander Abhi Nandan and whose face was bloodied and blindfolded, gives his name and service number before telling a man questioning him: “I’m sorry sir, that’s all I’m supposed to tell you.”
A statement from India’s foreign ministry said the pilot’s treatment was a “vulgar display of an injured personnel of the Indian Air Force in violation of all norms of international humanitarian law and the Geneva Convention,” ordering his immediate release. India has not yet named the pilot.
Pakistan and India have fought three wars since independence from British colonial rule in 1947, two over the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir, and went to the brink of a fourth in 2002 after a Pakistani militant attack on India’s parliament.
The latest escalation marks a sudden turnaround in relations between the two countries, both of which claim Kashmir in full, but only rule in part.
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Here is a clip that has been released of the Indian pilot who is currently being held in Pakistan.
Migrant workers are fleeing India's northern state of Jammu and Kashmir and tourist arrivals have fallen to a trickle amid an escalating conflict with Pakistan, badly hurting businesses in the Himalayan region known for its scenic beauty and fruit harvests.
Hundreds of taxis stood idle at the main railway station of Jammu, the winter capital of the state, after Pakistan said it carried out air strikes in India and shot down two Indian jets on Wednesday, a day after Indian warplanes struck inside Pakistan for the first time since a war in 1971.
"My wife is really scared and has been calling me back," Brajesh Prasad, who works at a white limestone factory near Jammu, told Reuters outside the emergency ticket counter at the railway station, as he sought to catch a train back to his village in Uttar Pradesh state.
"I first came here two years ago, but decided last night it's no longer safe to remain here. I know there would be no work back home for me, it's not even the planting or harvest season to get some farm work."
The latest escalation marks a sudden turnaround in relations between the two countries, that both claim Kashmir in full but rule in part.
As recently as November, Pakistan's premier Imran Khan spoke of "mending ties" with India.
The conflict also comes at a critical time for Indian prime minster Narendra Modi, who faces a general election in a matter of months.
Mr Modi's decision to order air strikes could benefit him politically, according to analysts and pollsters, but he was accused on Wednesday by opposition parties of capitalising on conflict.
Indian Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has criticised the "blatant politicisation of the sacrifices made by our armed forces", in a joint statement by 21 opposition parties, in the first time they have broken ranks with the government over the issue.
The aerial engagement followed overnight artillery fire by both sides.
Pakistan used heavy calibre weapons in 12 to 15 places along the Line of Control, a spokesman for the Indian defence forces said on Wednesday.
"The Indian Army retaliated for effect and our focused fire resulted in severe destruction to five posts and number of casualties," the spokesman said.
Five Indian soldiers suffered minor wounds in the shelling that ended on Wednesday morning, he added.
"So far there are no [civilian] casualties but there is panic among people," said Rahul Yadav, the deputy commissioner of the Poonch district on the Indian side where some of the shelling took place.
"We have an evacuation plan in place and if need arises we will evacuate people to safer areas," he said.
Officials on the Pakistani side said at least four people had been killed and seven wounded, including civilians, with thousands evacuated and schools closed in border areas.
India has also continued its crackdown on suspected militants operating in Kashmir, and on Wednesday security forces killed two Jaish militants in a gun battle, Indian police said.
Syed Maqsood, the superintendent of a government hospital in Indian-occupied Kashmir, said that all hospitals in the region had been asked to paint a red cross on their roofs in case of further Pakistani air strikes.
Britain's foreign secretary, Jeremy Hunt, said diplomatic efforts to resolve the crisis in Kashmir were continuing "round the clock" but warned "we should not underestimate the dangers in this situation".
Mr Hunt said: "You have two nuclear powers who have a long history of tension squaring up against each other and now the start of some kind of military conflict. It's an extremely dangerous situation."
Mr Hunt said he had spoken to his counterparts in India and Pakistan and urged both sides to "de-escalate and reduce tensions".
"It's a full, round-the-clock, diplomatic effort to try and make sure we can avert the worst and end up with a peaceful resolution which we know both countries want," he said.
Mr Hunt went on to say the "historic lack of trust" between India and Pakistan meant it was a "very volatile situation".
"You don't just have the governments but you have public opinion in both countries that is very inflamed," Mr Hunt said.
Asked if Donald Trump's US could play a greater role, Mr Hunt said: "I think the US can play a role, I think China can play a a role. The UK is probably the country on the Security Council that knows both these countries the best - but our role must be a behind-the-scenes role and that's what we are doing.
"Both our high commissioners are working flat out to try and calm things down, contacts at all levels of government are happening to try and calm down the situation."
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