- 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.
What is the Line of Control?
With the fast-moving developments on the ground, let’s take a step back and look at what we mean by the Line of Control (LoC), a term our correspondents regularly use.
- It is the de facto border dividing Pakistan-administered Kashmir and Indian-administered Kashmir.
- The line originally marked the military front when the two countries declared a ceasefire in January 1949 after their first war over Kashmir.
- It was formally named the LoC under the 1972 Simla Agreement, signed after the 1971 war that resulted in the creation of Bangladesh.
Clashes along Line of Control resume after hours of relative calm
Umar Mehra, a journalist based in Srinagar in Indian-administered Kashmir, said civilians living near the Line of Control that bisects Kashmir are increasingly fleeing as the situation is “escalating very dangerously” and cross-border fighting has resumed.
“After 13 hours of relative calm today, the clashes along the Line of Control have resumed. There are also reports of heavy exchanges of artillery along the Line of Control in Kupwara, Poonch, Uri, and Samba,” he told Al Jazeera.
“Civilians in the border area are living under growing fear, and thousands have fled their homes, seeking shelter in other areas or makeshift camps.”
IPL not likely to finish season ‘in the near future’
Raunak Kapoor, an Indian cricket broadcaster, says that while the Indian Premier League has been suspended for a week due to the tensions with Pakistan, it will likely be delayed for much longer.
“I don’t see them finishing [the season] in the near future,” he told Al Jazeera from Mumbai.
“We are probably looking at a time after the Indian monsoon [to complete the season], in September or October,” he added.
Kapoor said he believes the authorities will act much like they did during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the IPL was suspended around April and resumed in the UAE around September.
“They will certainly finish the league, whether they can manage it at home or not,” he said.
Explosions reported near Srinagar airport
The news agency Reuters, citing local officials, is reporting that there have been about 10 explosions around Srinagar airport in Indian-administered Kashmir.
Journalist Umar Mehraj told Al Jazeera that “multiple loud explosions were heard … near the Srinagar airport, after people had seen projectiles in the sky”.
“Panic spread among locals,” Meraj said from Indian-administered Kashmir.
Can India and Pakistan avoid a fourth war over Kashmir?
The biggest military escalation between India and Pakistan in decades continues.
Missile strikes, drone attacks, and deadly shelling have struck on both sides of the border in the disputed region of Kashmir.
With dozens of civilians dead and both countries trading blame, can the two nuclear powers contain the dispute?
International Crisis Group says world powers ‘indifferent’ to India-Pakistan crisis
The think tank says “foreign powers appear to have been somewhat indifferent” to the prospect of war, despite warnings of possible escalation.
“Aside from their preoccupation with the multitude of other crises unfolding around the world, many foreign capitals may also have feared contradicting themselves after having expressed support for India’s prerogative to ‘fight terrorism’ following the brutal Pahalgam killings,” the ICG said in a statement.
US Vice President JD Vance on Thursday said that Washington wanted to see a “de-escalation” in a worsening conflict between India and Pakistan, but that it was “fundamentally none of our business”.
But the ICG said that a “combination of bellicose rhetoric, domestic agitation and the remorseless logic of military one-upmanship have heightened the risks of escalation, particularly because for some time there was no diplomatic communication between the sides”.
‘We still have an opportunity for an off-ramp’: India’s former FM
India’s former Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla has told Al Jazeera that, as he understands, the national security advisers of India and Pakistan “are in touch with each other”.
He said the message being conveyed in news conferences by Indian officials is that “India is committed to peace, but the choice of de-escalation lies with Pakistan. In other words, there is an off-ramp situation here”.
He added, “Even if you look at the Indian air force briefing, there’s a lot of … operational restraint that is being talked about, and the fact that there is definitely a desire to avoid a wider conflict.
“India does believe that its actions have been calibrated, have been precise, have been responsible, and it is not designed in any way to escalate the situation, unless Pakistan, you know, sort of seeks that avenue.
“And if that’s the case, then the Indian response is likely to be firm.”
Uncertainty and fear grips India
There had been relative calm since this morning, but now that has changed, because gunshots and loud explosions have been reported along the Line of Control.
We’re also getting reports of a blackout in Jammu.
There have been fast-moving developments overnight, including India saying it has taken down several Pakistani drones and missiles and also stopped armed men trying to cross into the Indian side.
There have also been a lot of security developments in many cities, including the Indian capital, New Delhi, which is on high alert.
About 20 airports have been shut, and they were to remain shut until the 15th.
The Indian Premier League, a much-loved and highly watched series that has been under way with matches all over the country, will now be suspended for a week.
Blasts and ‘heavy firing’ heard in Indian city of Amritsar
Witnesses have told the Reuters news agency that four blasts have been heard in Amritsar, a city in the northwestern Indian state of Punjab, about 30km (19 miles) from the border with Pakistan.
Journalist Ravinder Singh Robin has also reported “heavy firing sounds” in the city.
“Just moments ago, heavy firing sounds heard near Air Force Cantonment around Ajnala Road in Amritsar,” he posted along with a video on X.
As cross-border attacks continue how can we hold on to hope, peace and our humanity?
On the night of May 6, India went to bed. In the morning, we were at war.
When I woke up on Wednesday at about 4:30am to use the bathroom, the glow of my phone screen caught my bleary eye. Still half asleep, I picked it up – only to be jolted awake by headline after headline screaming the same unthinkable message: India had launched a series of strikes into Pakistan, targeting terrorist strongholds.
Read more here.
Jammu resident reports drone attack on the city
Jammu resident Rashul Singh Oberh has told Al Jazeera that a blackout in the city in Indian-administered Kashmir started at about 8pm (14:30 GMT) and a drone attack started about 15 to 30 minutes later.
“I’m at my workplace and can see red light and explosions in the sky,” he said.
Multiple blasts and a blackout reported in Jammu city
Multiple blasts have been heard in Jammu city in Indian-administered Kashmir for a second day, and projectiles have been seen in the night sky after a blackout.
“Intermittent sounds of blasts, probably heavy artillery, can now be heard from where I am,” the chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir Omar Abdullah said in a post on X.
In an earlier post he said: “Blackout in Jammu now. Sirens can be heard across the city.”
Fast facts: India and Pakistan tensions
- In 1947, the British colonial rulers drew a line of partition, dividing the Indian subcontinent into Muslim-majority Pakistan and Hindu-majority India. What followed was one of the largest – and, perhaps, bloodiest – migrations in human history.
- Seventy-eight years on, the two nations remain bitter foes. But now they have nuclear arms.
- The tension between India and Pakistan has escalated sharply once again after the Pahalgam attack on April 22.
- The Muslim-majority Kashmir region, a former princely state, has been in dispute since the partition of India. India, Pakistan and China each control a part of Kashmir. India claims all of it, while Pakistan claims the part administered by India.
- The two countries have gone to war four times, and there have been numerous cross-border skirmishes and escalations, including one in 2019 after at least 40 Indian soldiers were killed in a suicide attack claimed by the Pakistan-based armed group, Jaish-e-Muhammad.
- In retaliation, India launched air strikes in Balakot, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa later that month, claiming that its jets had struck “terrorist” bases, killing many fighters. Many independent analysts have questioned whether India actually struck bases of armed groups and whether it killed as many fighters as it claims it did.