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10-05-2025
Bureau Report
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s military says there will be “no de-escalation” with India until it has responded to India’s Wednesday strikes.
Pakistan has denied claims by India’s armed forces that “military stations” in Indian-administered Kashmir’s Jammu and Udhampur, and in Punjab state’s Pathankot, were targeted in drone and missile attacks. No casualties were reported.
Pakistan’s information minister says his country has engaged only in a “defensive response so far” to India’s attacks on his country, as Pakistan’s military said India launched attack drones into Pakistan on Thursday, killing at least two civilians.
At least 48 people have been reported killed so far, 32 of them in Pakistan since India launched missiles on Wednesday that it said targeted “terrorist camps” in Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir. Pakistan retaliated with a barrage of artillery strikes.
The clashes follow escalating tension between the two nuclear-armed countries since a deadly attack in Indian-administered Kashmir’s Pahalgam on April 22, which India blamed on Pakistan. Pakistan has denied any involvement.
Pakistan military spokesperson Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said during a news conference; “we will not de-escalate with the damages India did on our side, they should take a hit.
“So far we have been protecting ourselves but they will get an answer in our own timing,” the spokesperson added.
However, Former Indian Ambassador to Pakistan G Parthasarathy has accused Pakistan’s army chief Asim Munir of “sponsoring terrorism across the border”.
“He thinks India is going to sink under the pressure,” Parthasarathy told media.
“This is not a war against the people of Pakistan, unfortunately they have come under a person who thinks he can blackmail India through terrorism.”
Asked if de-escalation efforts were still possible, he said there would be “no talks with Pakistan until terrorism ends”.
The military says Pakistan has resorted to what it says are “numerous ceasefire violations” along the line of control, including shelling villages.
India’s army says Pakistan launched “multiple” drone attacks across India’s entire western border on Thursday night and into Friday morning.
With Pakistan denying any missile or drone attacks against India, Pakistan’s warning of upcoming retribution remains alive, hovering over the 1.6 billion people of South Asia, 17 days after armed gunmen killed 26 male civilians in Pahalgam, Indian-administered Kashmir, triggering the current escalation.
Experts say how Pakistan responds will likely be shaped by its desire to demonstrate that it can hurt India, without pushing the crisis over the edge into a full-blown conflict.
Retired army general Ghulam Mustafa says Pakistan has been forced to choose between submission and war, after India launched a wave of missile attacks this week.
“An act of war can only be responded to by another act of war,” Mustafa told media.
The former officer said while Islamabad’s response would have to be “measured” to avoid an escalation, “India has to feel the pain for starting this conflict.”
He added that Kashmir has been the flashpoint in previous conflicts as well, and that solving this dispute was necessary to achieving peaceful coexistence between India and Pakistan.
An attack in Kashmir in mid-April has led to the biggest crisis between India and Pakistan for years.
