ATTARI, India (AP) 鈥 Pakistan said Wednesday it had 鈥渃redible intelligence鈥 that India is planning to attack it within days, as soldiers from both sides exchanged gunfire along their borders and Pakistanis headed home in compliance with New Delhi鈥檚 orders for them to leave the country following last week鈥檚 deadly attack in Indian-controlled Kashmir.
India鈥檚 moves to punish Pakistan after , which Islamabad denies, have driven tensions between the nuclear-armed rivals to their highest point since 2019, when the two sides came close to war after a suicide car bombing in Kashmir.
Calls for de-escalation
Pakistan said Wednesday the intelligence shows that India plans to carry out military action against it in the 鈥渘ext 24-36 hours on the pretext of baseless and concocted allegations of involvement in the Pahalgam incident.鈥
There was no immediate comment from Indian officials. However, Indian government officials said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has 鈥済iven complete operational freedom to the armed forces to decide on the mode, targets and timing of India鈥檚 response to the Pahalgam massacre.鈥 They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive deliberations.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, in separate phone calls with India and Pakistan, stressed the need to 鈥渁void a confrontation that could result in tragic consequences.鈥 The U.S. State Department also called for de-escalation and said that Secretary of State Marco Rubio would be speaking to the Indian and Pakistani foreign ministers.
Pakistanis forced to flee
The deadline for Pakistani citizens to leave India, with exceptions for those with medical visas, passed on Sunday, but many families were still scrambling to the border crossing in Attari town in northern Punjab state.
Some arrived on their own, while others were being deported by police.
鈥淲e have settled our families here. We request the government not to uproot our families,鈥 said Sara Khan, a Pakistani who was ordered back without her husband, Aurangzeb Khan, who holds an Indian passport. She carried her 14-day-old child in her arms and said she had been living in Indian-controlled Kashmir since 2017.
鈥淭hey (Indian authorities) told me you are illegal and you should go,鈥 said Khan, while waiting on the Indian side of the border crossing.
India and Pakistan have escalated after , near the resort town of Pahalgam in disputed Kashmir.
The massacre set off diplomatic measures between the two nations that included the cancellation of visas and a recall of diplomats. New Delhi also suspended a crucial water-sharing treaty with Islamabad and ordered its border shut with Pakistan. In response, Pakistan has closed its airspace to Indian airlines.
have also 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 gunfire along the frontier.
Pakistan鈥檚 state-run media said Indian forces violated the ceasefire agreement along the Line of Control by initiating fire with heavy weapons. According to Pakistan Television, Pakistani troops also returned fire after coming under attack overnight in the Mandal sector of Pakistan-controlled Kashmir.
Meanwhile, the Indian army said it responded to 鈥渦nprovoked鈥 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 border skirmishes in the Himalayan region.
The Pahalgam attack
The attack was claimed by a previously unknown militant group calling itself the Kashmir Resistance.
At least three tourists who survived told The Associated Press that the gunmen singled out Hindu men and shot them from close range. The dead included a Nepalese citizen and a local Muslim pony ride operator.
Aishanya Dwivedi, whose husband was killed, said 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 鈥減oint blank in the head,鈥 she said.
鈥淗e was on my lap. I was soaked in his blood,鈥 Dwivedi told AP over the phone from her home in the Indian city of Kanpur.
Kashmir is split between India and Pakistan and claimed by both in its entirety. New Delhi describes all militancy in Indian-controlled Kashmir as Pakistan-backed terrorism. Pakistan denies this, and many Muslim Kashmiris consider the militants to be part of a home-grown freedom struggle.
Meanwhile, India鈥檚 cabinet committee on security, headed by Modi, met on Wednesday. It was their second such meeting since the attack.
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Saaliq reported from New Delhi. Associated Press writer Munir Ahmed in Islamabad and Rajesh Roy in New Delhi contributed to this report.
