India warns Pakistan of ‘firm response’ after trade of fire
India has warned that any military action by Pakistan will be met with a “very, very firm response,” following a day of trade of fire between the two nuclear-armed neighbors.
India launched missile strikes in retaliation for an attack it blames on Islamabad, which has vowed to retaliate after India’s deadly strikes on Wednesday.
The Foreign Minister, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, said India’s response was targeted and measured, but if there are military attacks, it will be met with a firm response.
Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has vowed to retaliate after India’s deadly strikes, with days of gunfire along their border escalating into artillery shelling.
At least 45 deaths have been reported from both sides of the border following Wednesday’s violence, including children.
India and Pakistan have fought multiple times since the violent end of British rule in 1947, when colonial officers drew straight-line borders on maps to partition the nations, dividing communities.
Kashmir, a disputed region claimed by both India and Pakistan, has been a repeated flashpoint.
India’s Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said the operation was New Delhi’s “right to respond” following an attack on tourists in Pahalgam in Kashmir last month, when gunmen killed 26 people, mainly Hindu men.
India on Thursday braced for Pakistan’s threatened retaliation, with the Hindu newspaper headline reading, “Border districts on high alert” and “India must be prepared for escalatory action.”
Analysts believe that based on past conflicts, the situation is likely to end in a few iterations of exchange of long-range gunfire or missiles into each other’s territory.
