What are India and Pakistan’s military capabilities?

The India-Pakistan ceasefire has increased hope that the two nuclear-armed countries can step back from the brink of full-scale war.

Such a conflict could be devastating to the region.

While India’s military is far larger than Pakistan’s, both are estimated to have similar numbers of missiles with nuclear warheads.

Both countries are also major arms importers. From 2020 to 2024, India was the second-largest importer in the world, behind Ukraine, getting the largest share of its weapons from Russia.

Pakistan was the fifth-largest importer during that time, getting most weapons from China.

Read our breakdown of both countries’ military capabilities here.

India’s Amritsar ‘still on red alert’

Authorities in the Indian city of Amritsar have issued a red alert, warning residents to stay indoors and away from windows, amid the continued tensions between India and Pakistan.

In a statement, Amritsar’s district collector said the power supply in the city had been restored, “but we are still on red alert”, according to the ANI news agency.

“Please don’t move out of your house; stay indoors and away from windows. We will be informing you when we get the green signal. Please ensure compliance and please don’t panic,” the statement said.

Amritsar is located in the northwestern Indian state of Punjab, about 30km (19 miles) from the border with Pakistan. Blasts had previously been heard there on Friday.

AIndus Waters Treaty remains suspended despite truce: Report

The Reuters news agency, citing four government sources, is reporting that the key water-sharing pact between India and Pakistan remains suspended despite the ceasefire agreement on Saturday.

India had pulled out of the pact, which regulates the division of water from the Indus River and its tributaries, after blaming Pakistan for the deadly attack targeting Hindu tourists in Pahalgam.

An Indian government source told Reuters there was “no change in stand” on the treaty, while another source from Pakistan’s water ministry was quoted as saying, “Indus Waters Treaty was not really a part of [ceasefire] discussions”.

Indian sources also told Reuters that other punitive measures, such as trade suspension and visa cancellations, would remain in place for now.

OIC calls for dialogue to resolve India, Pakistan disputes

The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has released a statement saying it welcomes the truce and appreciates the “efforts of intermediary countries”.

“We call on the international community to encourage Pakistan and India to engage in constructive dialogue to resolve outstanding issues,” said the OIC, which represents 57 states.

“We stress the need for a peaceful resolution of the Jammu and Kashmir issue in accordance with Security Council resolutions to avoid tension between two nuclear powers in South Asia,” the statement added.

“We are concerned about the military escalation in South Asia and call for restraint and the avoidance of destabilising the region.”

How did the fighting begin?

• The countries have fought several wars over the territory, which both claim in full, but administer separate portions of Kashmir since gaining independence from British rule in 1947.
• The ceasefire comes after four days of attacks and counter-attacks by both sides that has killed more than 60 people and forced thousands of civilians flee their homes along their border as well as in divided Kashmir.
• The fighting was touched off by an attack last month in the Indian-administered side of Kashmir that killed 26 tourists, mostly Hindu men, which New Delhi blamed on Islamabad.
• India accused the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba – a UN-designated terrorist organisation – of carrying out the attack, but Islamabad has denied any involvement and called for an independent probe.
• Armed groups have stepped up attacks in Kashmir since 2019, when Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu-nationalist government revoked its limited autonomy and took the state under direct rule from New Delhi.

If you’re just joining us

Let’s bring you up to speed:

• The India-Pakistan ceasefire agreed on Saturday appears to be holding, with calm reported on both sides of the border hours after the two countries accused each other of violations.
• People displaced by the conflict in Indian-administered Kashmir have begun returning to their homes and say the truce has brought a sense of safety.
• The city of Amritsar in India’s Punjab has lifted a red alert imposed overnight, and officials and residents say the situation has returned to normal.
• Trump has promised to “increase trade substantially” with India and Pakistan after praising their leaders on their “heroic decision”.
• The Reuters news agency reports that punitive measures, including the suspension of visas, trade and the Indus Waters Treaty, remain in place despite the truce.

Timeline: India-Pakistan escalation

Here’s what happened in the brief conflict between India and Pakistan:

April 22: Gunmen kill 26 people in Pahalgam in Indian-administered Kashmir.
April 23: India downgrades diplomatic ties, closes the border, and suspends key water treaty with Pakistan, blaming it for backing the attack. Islamabad denies the charge.
April 24: India and Pakistan cancel visas for each other’s nationals. Pakistan shuts its airspace for all Indian-owned or Indian-operated airlines.
April 25: India says its troops exchanged fire with Pakistani soldiers at the LoC.
May 3: Pakistan test-fires ballistic missile with a range of 450km (280 miles). India bars Pakistani-flagged ships from entering its ports and prohibits Indian-flagged vessels from visiting Pakistani ports.
May 7: India launches missile strikes on what it calls “terrorist infrastructure” in Pakistan. Islamabad says the attack killed 26 civilians and denounces it as an “act of war”. It pledges revenge and claims it’s forces downed several Indian fighter jets.
May 8: India launches drone attacks against Pakistan, accusing Islamabad of targeting its air defence system.
May 9: India suspends IPL, its biggest domestic cricket tournament, for a week.
May 10: Pakistan says it carried out retaliatory strikes after India fired missiles at airbases inside the country.
May 10: Trump says India and Pakistan have agreed to a full and immediate ceasefire. Officials from both nations quickly confirm the deal.

Residents of Pakistan’s Karachi hope ‘sane minds’ prevail

There is a sense of relief in Pakistan post the ceasefire announcement yesterday.

There is not much activity on the streets of the southern city of Karachi, given that it’s Sunday and life takes a late start in this metropolis.

The true cost of the brief yet deadly conflict remains unknown, but people here are adamant that Pakistan ended up as the “winner”.

The sentiment remains the same across the border in India as people on both sides remain satisfied that the rival got a “befitting response” and it was a “lesson learned” for the other side.

“I was happy our forces carried out that large-scale attack yesterday morning. We can’t just take hit after hit and remain defensive without a response,” Ahmed Yar, lining up at a tea stall in Karachi, told Al Jazeera.

“Not much happened in Karachi, so there was not a lot of fear or panic, but now that there’s a ceasefire, I wish it stays in place and sane minds prevail. We all need to go back to normalcy and work on issues plaguing our country.”

India’s Amritsar lifts red alert

Authorities in Amritsar say the city, which was under a red alert overnight, can now return to “normal activities”, ANI reports.

Residents of the city told the agency that people in the city are “leading normal lives”.

“We are getting ration, water and oil normally … I do not want the peace in country to ever be disrupted … No country can progress through wars. People in India want progress,” one man said.

Trump promises to increase trade with India, Pakistan

The US president has again taken to Truth Social, his social media site, to praise the leaders of India and Pakistan.

“I am proud that the USA was able to help you arrive a this historic and heroic decision,” he wrote.

“While not even discussed, I am going to increase trade, substantially, with both of these great Nations. Additionally, I will work with you both to see if, after a ‘thousand years,’ a solution can be arrived at concerning Kashmir,” he added.

India’s defence minister hails nuclear tests of 1998

India’s Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has shared a post celebrating the Indian scientists who contributed to the country’s nuclear tests on National Technology Day.

“We proudly recall the exceptional efforts of our scientists that led to the successful Pokhran tests in 1998,” he wrote on X.

“It was a defining moment in India’s history,” he added.

Calm returns to cities in Indian-administered Kashmir: Reports

Earlier, we brought you testimony from a journalist in Srinagar in Indian-administered Kashmir who said the guns have fallen silent there for the first time in two weeks.

Now, India’s ANI and PTI news agencies are reporting that the situation appears to have returned to normal in a number of locations across Indian-administered Kashmir this morning.

ANI reported that the “situation seems normal this morning” in Poonch “after days of heavy shelling by Pakistan”.

“No drones, firing or shelling was reported overnight,” in Poonch, as well as Samba and Kupwara, ANI said.

PTI also reported that situation seems to be normal in other locations, including Budgam, Akhnoor and Mendhar.

‘Situation is peaceful’ at Amritsar airport

Yadwinder Singh, an Indian official, has told the country’s ANI news agency that the “situation is peaceful” this morning at the ACP airport in Amritsar, about 30km (19 miles) from the border with Pakistan.

Singh said that “some rumours are being spread, but there is adequate security” and “it is peaceful now”.

“There is no drone activity,” he added. “People should not panic.”

Singh also appealed to the media to “verify the reports coming to them” in light of “false rumours being spread by people”.

The report came hours after authorities said the city remains on “red alert”.

EU’s top diplomat welcomes ceasefire

Kaja Kallas says she spoke with both India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar after the ceasefire was announced.

She described the deal as “a vital step toward de-escalation” and said “all efforts must be made to ensure it is respected”.

“The EU remains committed to peace, stability, and counter-terrorism in the region,” she said.

India accuses Pakistan of violating truce

The optimism around the ceasefire was shortlived because India is now accusing Pakistan of violating the ceasefire.

Just hours before, both countries had agreed to a land, sea and air ceasefire.

Then, the chief minister of Indian-administered Kashmir, Omar Abdullah, tweeted to say that there were drones spotted. He said there have been explosions in Jammu and Srinagar, and asked what has happened to the ceasefire?

And India’s Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri has reacted, accusing Pakistan of violating the ceasefire, and saying the Indian armed forces have remained vigilant and have been asked to respond to any violations appropriately.

The ceasefire announcement itself was sudden.

It was announced by US President Donald Trump during the day, saying that India and Pakistan had agreed to the ceasefire and details of it would be worked out.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that both countries would hold talks in a more neutral place.

Well, of course, there’s no official word whether India has agreed to those talks. What we know, the official word is India agreed to the ceasefire, and now India is accusing Pakistan of those ceasefire violations.

A recap of recent developments

• Loud explosions have been heard in Srinagar, in Indian-administered Kashmir, hours after India and Pakistan agreed to an immediate ceasefire following days of deadly cross-border attacks.
• India’s Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri accuses Pakistan of violating the understanding arrived at by the two countries, and says the Indian armed forces have been instructed to “deal strongly” with any repetition.
• In response, Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry says the country was committed to the ceasefire and blames India for the violations.
• Earlier, politicians and residents of India and Pakistan, as well as the areas in Kashmir that each country administers, welcomed the news of the ceasefire, which was first announced by US President Donald Trump.
• US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has commended Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Pakistan’s Shehbaz Sharif on the agreement, and said the deal also included the start of talks on “a broad set of issues at a neutral site”.
• Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar has said that more than 30 countries had helped to facilitate that agreement.

Welcome to our live coverage

Hello, and thank you for joining our coverage of tensions between India and Pakistan after the deadly attack in Pahalgam in Indian-administered Kashmir last month.

Follow this page for up-to-the-minute updates on the latest developments, along with context and analysis.

You can find all our updates from Saturday, May 10, here.

Could India, Pakistan use nuclear weapons? Here’s what their doctrines say

As India and Pakistan escalate shelling and missile attacks, an all-out war between the two sides would be the first ever between nuclear-armed nations.

What are the nuclear arsenals of India and Pakistan like?

And when – according to their nuclear doctrines – could they use nuclear weapons?

Click here for a closer look at their arsenals and the policies that govern their use.

Indian army denounces ‘blatant escalation’ in Pakistan’s deployment of drones

In a statement posted on X, India’s military said it detected “multiple enemy armed drones” flying over the Khasa Cantt military base in the Indian city of Amritsar early on Saturday.

“The hostile drones were instantly engaged and destroyed by our air defence units,” the statement said.

“Pakistan’s blatant attempt to violate India’s sovereignty and endanger civilians is unacceptable,” it added.

Five killed by Pakistani shelling in Jammu region: Reports

Earlier, we reported that Rajouri district commissioner in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir region, Raj Kumar Thappa, was killed after the Pakistani military struck his home as part of a spate of shelling targeting Rajouri, Poonch and Jammu districts.

Citing local officials, The New Indian Express and National Herald newspapers now report that two more people – including a two-year-old child – were killed and three others were injured in the attack on Rajouri town.

A 55-year-old woman was also reportedly killed when a mortar shell struck her home in Kanghra-Galhutta village in Poonch district, while a resident of Bidipur Jatta village was killed in the R S Pura sector of Jammu district.

‘Tremendous fighting’ reported in Pakistan’s Sialkot

We are getting reports that in the city of Sialkot, there’s been tremendous fighting near the disputed border.

In the last 48 hours, Pakistan has also reported that it has downed at least 77 drones.

Residents in Lahore and Karachi have also reported hearing sounds of explosions in the last few hours near densely populated areas.

This is where the concern is, that it is happening in civilian areas in both countries.

There have been efforts to find a way to de-escalate the situation, including efforts by the US secretary of state, as well as the Iranian and Saudi Arabian foreign ministers.

But Pakistan said that it has to respond and that it cannot sit silent amid the attack.

First all-out war between nuclear-armed nations?

So far, India and Pakistan have used missiles, drones, diplomacy and information to battle each other since the April 22 attack on Pahalgam, Indian-administered Kashmir, in which 26 civilians were killed.

But as they slide rapidly towards a full-blown military conflict, a dangerous reality stares not just at the 1.6 billion people of the two countries, but at the world: If an all-out war were to break out between them, it would be the first ever between two nuclear-armed nations.

India and Pakistan fought in the icy heights of Kargil in 1999, a year after the South Asian neighbours became nuclear states.

But that was a contained war: Already, in the past three days, India and Pakistan each claim to have hit much wider swaths of the other’s territory than was the case in 1999.

The last full war between India and Pakistan was in 1971, before either had tested a nuclear device.

And though the US and the Soviet Union were locked in the Cold War for more than 40 years, they carefully managed their tensions, including through a series of proxy wars in third countries, to avoid engaging in direct military conflict.

Pakistan state media claims Indian websites hacked as part of ‘Bunyan Marsoos’

Earlier, we reported that Pakistan claimed it had hit India’s power grid with a cyberattack launched as part of operation Bunyan Marsoos.

Pakistan’s state-run PTV News now reports that several sensitive Indian online domains have been targeted as part of that cyberattack, including websites belonging to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, the Border Security Forces, and the Crime Research Investigation Agency.

This claim could not be independently verified. The Indian government has yet to comment.

India and Pakistan have not declared war, but ‘effectively at war’: Analyst

Michael Kugelman, a South Asia analyst, spoke to Al Jazeera a little earlier about the overnight and early-morning fighting between India and Pakistan.

This is some of what he said.

• They have not formally declared war, but they are effectively at war. There have been increasing hostilities, and we see that after this series of strikes from India, Pakistan responded almost instantaneously, and they continue to fight.
• My understanding is that the air forces are facing off with a dog fight. I think that we are seeing India and Pakistan, two nuclear states, at war for the first time since 1999.
• The fog of war is very deep this time compared to previous India-Pakistan crises, and one reason for that is because of social media and disinformation and how that affects the fog of war. It does seem that you have a lot of accusations and then denials and so on from each side.
• So it is really hard to know exactly what is going on. And there has been a lot of allegations about what has been going on in the last few hours, what’s happened and what has not happened. But what we do know is that both countries have attacked each other’s military facilities and that is very escalatory for sure.

Chief minister of India-administered Kashmir reports death of district official

In a statement posted on X, Omar Abdullah, chief minister of the Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir region, said that Raj Kumar Thapa, a district commissioner in Rajouri town, was killed after his residence was hit by shelling from Pakistan.

“I’ve no words to express my shock and sadness at this terrible loss of life,” Abdullah wrote.

Shelling and intense fire have been reported since early on Saturday along the Line of Control dividing India and Pakistan.

AMore on huge explosion heard in Indian-administered Kashmir

Journalist Umar Mehraj, who is reporting from Srinagar, told Al Jazeera that at approximately 5:45am local time (23:45 GMT), residents heard a loud explosion in the Indian-administered Kashmir near the Line of Control (LoC).

“It is unclear whether the strike was fired by Pakistan,” he said, but added that the explosion was “louder and more intense” than previously reported blasts on Friday.

“This is one of the most intense clashes we have seen in recent years,” he said.

Mehraj also reported of power outages and the blaring of air raid sirens in the area following the explosion.

Authorities announce temporary closure of airports across north, west India

India’s Ministry of Civil Aviation has issued a series of Notices to Airmen (NOTAMs) announcing the temporary closure of 32 airports across the country’s north and west for all civil flight operations.

The closures will be in effect from May 9-14 and impacted airports span the Indian states of Punjab, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana and Gujarat, as well as Indian-administered Kashmir.

A full list of impacted airports can be found at this link.

‘Situation extremely critical’ as Pakistan and India trade heavy fire

It  was after the attack on the airfield, which shook the city of Rawalpindi in the early hours of the morning – and after several days of sending suicide drones all over Pakistan – that the Indian air force attacked these airbases with standoff munitions, which means they must have fired these from a distance.

After that, Pakistan launched a massive retaliation.

As we speak, we are being told that drones are still hovering over Delhi.

Pakistan has struck several major front-line military bases. They are claiming that they have destroyed a missile battery, they’ve destroyed several airfields, and that they’ve attacked artillery gun positions.

And the Pakistani prime minister has called a meeting of the National Command Authority. Now this is a step higher because this deals with Pakistan’s nuclear weapons, and therefore, the situation is extremely critical.

Islamabad says India’s suspension of Indus Waters Treaty an ‘attack’ on Pakistan’s people

We have reported extensively on the decision of India to suspend the Indus Waters Treaty amid the escalating conflict with neighbouring Pakistan.

A spokesperson from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Pakistan has issued further comments on the development, calling it an “attack” on Pakistan’s people.

The spokesman said that from Islamabad’s perspective, the treaty “remains fully in force and is binding on the parties”, according to a transcript of a briefing published on the ministry’s website.

“There is no provision in the treaty to hold it in abeyance,” the spokesman added.

“Millions of people are dependent on the water being regulated by this treaty. The Indian decision is equivalent to an attack on the people of Pakistan and its economy.”

Can India and Pakistan avoid a fourth war over Kashmir?

It’s the biggest military escalation between India and Pakistan in decades. 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?

Pakistan says Indian military sites targeted

Right after morning prayers here in Pakistan, the Pakistan military launched its counteroffensive against India, codenamed “Bunyan Marsoos”, after a verse in the Quran.

It has targeted a number of sites across India. These are all military sites, including one missile station as well as two airfields.

According to military sources, all of these locations have been involved in targeting Pakistani civilians, places of worship, as well as military installations.

Pakistan had been saying that it did not want to go to this level, but it was forced to because after the May 7 attacks, Pakistan immediately responded, saying that it reserved the right … to respond and protect its territorial integrity and sovereignty.

Pakistani PM calls National Command Authority meeting

Pakistan’s military has said that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has called a meeting of the country’s top civilian and military body, which takes key national security decisions, including those related to the country’s nuclear arsenal.

We will bring you more information when we have it.

‘Intense night’ as Pakistan launches strikes on Indian targets

An intense night where multiple Pakistani airbases came under attack.

The Pakistani military says that all of those were thwarted.

But it was not just those aerial attacks. Across the Line of Control in Kashmir, in Sialkot, and across various sectors in Pakistan, there was intense firing and shelling, and in the past few minutes, we’ve heard from other cities as well, including Lahore and Karachi, where multiple explosions have been heard.

In the past few days, Pakistan said it had downed more than 80 drones that were fired into its territory by India.

So, all in all, it appears that all of these tensions that had been ratcheting up have finally culminated in this attack by Pakistan.

Pakistan said that it reserved the right to attack India, citing Article 51 of the UN Charter, because India carried out, according to Pakistani officials, an unprovoked attack and did not provide any proof for its allegations that Pakistan was in any way involved in terrorist activities on Indian soil.

What are BrahMos missiles?

We have been reporting on Pakistan’s operation Bunyan Marsoos, which has targeted several military sites in India and Indian-administered Kashmir over recent hours.

One of the attacks has reportedly hit a BrahMos missile storage site in Beas in India’s Punjab province.

BrahMos missiles are supersonic missiles with a top range of 800km (497 miles) that can be launched from a range of military vehicles, including submarines, ships and fighter aircraft.

They were developed by BrahMos Aerospace, a joint venture between India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation and the Russian rocket design bureau, NPO Mashinostroyeniya.

The name is a portmanteau of the Brahmaputra River in India and the Moskva River in Russia.

Pakistan’s operation targets Indian missile storage sites

According to the Pakistani military, there have been multiple assets which have been engaged, including its Fatah-1 medium-range missile system, which is being used to target those military facilities.

Pakistan said it was bound to carry out this attack after India carried out the attack on May 7 and killed its civilians and citizens.

All those sites that have been targeted are the ones that Pakistan said have been used to put targets on the backs of its citizens; India targeted mosques, places of worship, as well as military sites.

Pakistani state media claims India’s power grid hit by cyberattack

State-run outlet PTV News is now reporting that India’s power grid has been hit by a cyberattack launched as part of Operation Bunyan Marsoos.

This claim could not be independently verified. The Indian government has yet to comment.

We will bring you more information when we have it.

Sirens, loud explosion reported in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir

India’s ANI news agency is reporting an explosion in the Dibber area of Udhampur, in Indian-administered Kashmir.

A video clip posted by ANI showed smoke rising over the area where the reported explosion happened.

The report added that sirens were also activated following the incident, which happened just minutes after Pakistan’s military announced the launch of its retaliatory military operation against India.

More on Pakistan’s military operation against India

In a post on X, Al Jazeera’s correspondent Osama Bin Javaid said, according to military sources, Pakistan is attacking “multiple targets” across India.

Pakistan launched its operation right after dawn prayers on Saturday, he said.

G7 warns India-Pakistan military escalation a ‘serious threat’ to regional stability

The Group of Seven (G7) major countries urged maximum restraint from both India and Pakistan and called on them to engage in direct dialogue amid rising hostilities between the two nuclear-armed Asian neighbours.

“Further military escalation poses a serious threat to regional stability. We are deeply concerned for the safety of civilians on both sides,” according to the statement, which was posted in the official website of the government of Canada, a member of the G7.

“We continue to monitor events closely and express our support for a swift and lasting diplomatic resolution.”

Indian army postpones press conference due to attacks: Report

We have been reporting on “Bunyan Marsoos”, a military operation launched by Pakistan’s armed forces over the past hour targeting military sites in India and Indian-administered Kashmir.

Pakistani news outlet Samaa TV, citing security sources, now reports that the Indian Army has postponed a planned news conference due to the strikes. The same outlet reports that Pakistan has fired at least three “Fatah 2” missiles at Indian targets.

What does Pakistan military’s Operation Bunyan Marsoos mean?

The operation launched by Pakistan against India is part of a verse from Islam’s holy book, the Quran, which reads: Truly Allah loves those who fight in His Cause in battle array, as if they were a solid cemented structure.

Bunyan Marsoos is an Arabic phrase which directly translates into “a structure made of lead”.

In Quranic context, the phrase is used to describe the unity and strength of followers of Islam who are fighting for the cause of Allah.

New Delhi airport says ‘changing airspace conditions’ could impact operation

Earlier, we reported about Pakistan’s decision to close the country’s airspace due to the current tensions with India.

Meanwhile, in India, the operator of New Delhi airport said “changing airspace conditions and increased security measures” could affect some flights and length of security checks.

The advisory asked passengers to arrive early and cooperate with airline and security staff at the airport.

Pakistan responds to Indian attacks, launches operation ‘Bunyan Marsoos’

The military’s media wing – Inter-Services Public Relations – has announced that Pakistan has officially launched its retaliatory strikes against “Indian aggression”, codenamed operation Bunyan Marsoos.

Military sources have claimed that Pakistan has targeted airbase in Indian city of Udhampur and an air field in Pathankot, both of which were “destroyed”.

Security sources further claimed that a BrahMos missile’s storage site in Beas, in India’s Punjab province, was also hit.

More on the reported Indian missile attacks on Pakistani airbases

Pakistani army spokesman Ahmad Sharif said in a televised address that all Pakistani air force assets were safe after he claimed India launched missile attacks on three airbases.

He said that India targeted the Nur Khan airbase in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, Murid airbase in Chakwal city and Rafiqui airbase in the Jhang district in the eastern Punjab province.

Sharif said some of the missiles fired by India also went into Afghanistan, but did not yet provide evidence, which he claimed Pakistan possessed.

He blamed the “blatant acts of aggression” on the “paranoia within the Indian mindset”.

Pakistan launches strikes against India: State media

Citing security sources, Pakistan’s state-run news outlet PTV News has reported that Pakistan has “launched a counter-offensive against Indian aggression”, without providing more details.

We will bring you more information when we have it.

A recap of recent developments

As tensions soar between India and Pakistan, misinformation and unconfirmed rumours of attacks are rife on both sides of the Radcliffe Line.

Here’s what you need to know:

• Pakistan’s military media wing said Indian fighter jets fired air-to-surface missiles at three of its airbases, but added that “all assets” are safe.
• In light of the attacks, Pakistan’s Civil Aviation agency has closed its airspace for more than eight hours, with it slated to reopen at 12pm (07:00 GMT) local time on Saturday.
• The Reuters news agency, citing witnesses, has reported that four blasts have been heard in Amritsar, a city in the northwestern Indian state of Punjab near the Pakistan border.
• Multiple blasts have also 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.
• Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri has slammed Pakistan’s “farcical” response after it again denied launching attacks across the border and claimed India fired ballistic missiles that fell on its own territory.

Welcome to our coverage

Hello, and thank you for joining our coverage of the fighting between India and Pakistan after the deadly attack in Pahalgam in Indian-administered Kashmir last month.

Follow this page for up-to-the-minute updates on the latest developments, along with context and analysis.

Indian army shares video of missile strike against Pakistan

The Indian army has released a short video clip showing a strike on a structure, which it described as a “befitting reply” to Pakistan’s violations of the Line of Control separating Indian-administered Kashmir from Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

In a post on X, India accused Pakistan of carrying out a series of overnight attacks.

Officials in Pakistan say their armed forces have, so far, engaged only in defensive military measures in response to India’s attacks.

What nuclear risks do the current India-Pakistan hostilities pose?

International concern is mounting over the India-Pakistan conflict – as both are armed with substantial nuclear arsenals.

Atomic bombs have only been used twice – 80 years ago on Japan.

What nuclear risks do the current hostilities pose?

Pakistan says the ‘whole world’ will know when it responds to India’s attack

There has been an intensification of tit-for-tat artillery duels along the Line of Control that separates both India- and Pakistan-administered Kashmir. There’s been casualties on the Pakistani side of the Line of Control as well.

The Pakistani military spokesman said that India should move away from cinema and into the real world after the Indians announced there were attacks across India along the bordering regions. Pakistan said that when it does carry out that attack, the whole world will find out.

Now Pakistan, of course, is under pressure to respond. They’ve told the Americans that Pakistan will respond as an act of self-defence.

Yesterday, what happened was something that was unacceptable, another provocation from India. Pakistan shot down almost 30 Israeli suicide drones – supplied to India – in several locations across the country, from the south to the north.

So Pakistan has still not responded.

There were also reports by Indian media that a Pakistani F-16 had been shot down and that a pilot had been captured. However, it is important to note that there is a user agreement with the United States in which Pakistan cannot use American F-16 fighters against India. That is an end-user agreement.

So the Indian claims are being seen as a propaganda campaign here in Pakistan.  However the situation remains tense.

Tensions are running very high and everybody is now anticipating a Pakistani response, which Pakistan says will come at a place and time of its choosing.

Pakistan says Economic Affairs Ministry’s X account hacked

Pakistan’s Ministry of Economic Affairs said its social media account was hacked after a post was published on X calling on international partners to provide loans to Pakistan amid rising tensions with neighbouring India, the Reuters news agency reports.

“We are working to have the Twitter [X] switched off,” the ministry told Reuters, adding that they “did not tweet” about it.

Earlier, both Indian and Pakistani media and information watchdogs flagged the barrage of misinformation linked to the ongoing tensions between the two countries.

If you’re just joining us

Here’s what you need to know:

• The Indian army has claimed that Pakistan’s armed forces launched multiple attacks using drones and other weapons along India’s western border on Thursday night and Friday morning.
• Pakistan’s Information Minister Attaullah Tarar has again denied that Pakistan launched attacks on targets in Indian-administered Kashmir on Thursday, calling claims of attacks “baseless” as he questioned footage published by Indian media.
• Pakistan’s ambassador to the United States, Rizwan Saeed Sheikh, has said there has been contact with India at the national security level, but called for escalations in “actions” and “rhetoric” to stop.
• The Indian government has ordered X to block users in the country from accessing more than 8,000 accounts, the social media platform said, as New Delhi continues its crackdown on Pakistan-related content.
• Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has expressed concern that tensions between India and Pakistan “will turn into a hot conflict”, as he backed an “international investigation” into the Pahalgam attack.

More details from Pakistan media on drone attacks

Pakistan’s Dawn news outlet has provided more details on the wave of drone attacks launched from India on Thursday.

Dawn quoted the military as saying that the areas where drones were intercepted included Lahore, Attock, Gujranwala, Chakwal, Rawalpindi, and Bahawalpur in Punjab province, as well as Sukkur, Umerkot and Karachi in Sindh province.

One person was confirmed killed and another injured in Miano near the Line of Control with Indian-administered Kashmir, Dawn quoted Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, the military’s chief spokesperson, as saying.

Two people were also killed in Attock and Rawalpindi, Dawn reported citing police.

Prime Minister Modi under ‘immense pressure’ to target Pakistan

Masood Akhtar, a national security analyst and former air marshal in the Pakistani air force, has said that people in Pakistan “thought that it was all over” after India bombed the country on Wednesday.

But Akhtar told Al Jazeera that Wednesday’s attack “wasn’t enough” for many in India.

“As of now, there is immense pressure on the Indian Prime Minister [Narendra Modi] to continue to act, to ratchet up the pressure [on Pakistan],” he said.

Inside Muridke: Did India hit a ‘terror base’ or a mosque?

The Indian strike on Pakistan’s city of Muridke this week was a part of Operation Sindoor, the most expansive aerial attacks on Pakistan outside the four wars that the two nuclear-armed neighbours have fought.

And of all the sites targeted by India, Muridke was particularly significant.

Muridke has long been believed to be home to the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) armed group, which India and other countries have blamed for carrying out deadly attacks on Indian soil, including the November 2008 attacks in Mumbai.

But Pakistan said only civilians were killed in the Indian missile strikes on Muridke.

Read the full report on the attack by Al Jazeera’s Abid Hussain here.

India accuses Pakistan of carrying out more drone attacks, committing ‘numerous ceasefire violations’

The Indian army has claimed that Pakistan’s armed forces launched multiple attacks using drones and other weapons along India’s western border on Thursday night and Friday morning.

The army said Pakistan also “resorted to numerous ceasefire violations” along the Line of Control (LoC) between Indian- and Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

“The drone attacks were effectively repulsed,” the military said in a post on X, adding that it gave a “befitting reply”, without providing details.

Pakistan has denied carrying out any cross-border attacks over recent days.

Human rights lawyer denounces India’s decision to block social media accounts

In a post on social media, Arjun Sethi, a civil and human rights advocate, called India a leader in “the world in digital authoritarianism”.

India had earlier ordered X to block more than 8,000 accounts, the platform said it was reluctantly complying with what it described as government-imposed “censorship”, amid its escalating conflict with neighbouring Pakistan.

Sethi, who is also an expert on surveillance issues at Georgetown University, noted that blocked accounts include human rights defenders and international news outlets.

India has also banned over a dozen Pakistani YouTube channels, including several news outlets, accusing them of spreading “provocative” content, as well as the Instagram account of Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Imran Khan, according to The Hindustan Times.

Editor’s Choice: What to read and watch right now

We’ve published several stories covering the escalating tension between India and Pakistan over the past day, including:

• Explainer: Have India and Pakistan started a drone war?
• News: ‘No deterrent value’ – Will India’s strikes on Pakistan stop armed attacks?
• Feature: ‘Don’t want war’ – Kashmiri towns caught in deadly India-Pakistan crossfire
• Watch: What’s going on between India and Pakistan?

South Asia expert warns against spread of disinformation amid India-Pakistan tensions

Earlier, we reported on the spread of misinformation and rumours linked to the escalating conflict between India and Pakistan.

Michael Kugelman, a South Asia analyst and writer for Foreign Policy magazine, said that disinformation regarding the conflict “is escalating as rapidly as the hostilities”.

“Both are very dangerous for different reasons,” he said in a social media post, urging the public to follow reliable sources of information and fact-checkers.

“At moments like this, their work is absolutely critical.”

Turkiye’s Erdogan backs international probe on Pahalgam attack

In a statement posted on social media, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed concern that the escalation of tensions between India and Pakistan “will turn into a hot conflict”, which could result in the deaths of many civilians.

After a telephone conversation with Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Erdogan said that he found Islamabad’s proposal “for an international investigation into the heinous terrorist attack” in Pahalgam, in India-administered Kashmir, “valuable”.

The attack in April killed at least 26 civilians and ignited the current tension between India and Pakistan after New Delhi laid the blame for the killings on Islamabad.

“Although there are those who want to pour gasoline into the fire, we in Turkiye are making every effort to reduce tensions and open channels of dialogue before events reach a point of no return,” Erdogan wrote on X.

India-Pakistan drone war heats up

Pakistan’s military says it brought down 25 Indian drones over cities including Karachi and Lahore.

India says Pakistan had targeted India and Indian-administered Kashmir with drones and missiles that were shot down.

The exchanges are fuelling fears of a new phase in the ongoing tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbours.

X to comply with Indian order to block more than 8,000 accounts

The Indian government has ordered X to block users in the country from accessing more than 8,000 accounts, the social media platform said, as New Delhi continues its sweeping crackdown on Pakistan-related social media content.

“X has received executive orders from the Indian government requiring X to block over 8,000 accounts in India, subject to potential penalties including significant fines and imprisonment of the company’s local employees,” the site’s global government affairs team said in a statement.

The Elon Musk-owned platform said the order includes demands to block international news organisations and other prominent users. The company did not provide details. It also added that the Indian government had not specified which posts violated Indian law and provided little evidence or justification for the demand to blocks accounts.

“Blocking entire accounts is not only unnecessary, it amounts to censorship of existing and future content, and is contrary to the fundamental right of free speech,” the X statement said.

“This is not an easy decision, however keeping the platform accessible in India is vital to Indians’ ability to access information,” it added.

The move by X comes a day after Instagram owner Meta also banned Indian users from accessing a prominent Muslim news page on the platform at New Delhi’s request.

More on Pakistan’s decision to move cricket matches to UAE

Earlier, we reported that the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has decided to move the remaining eight matches of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) to the United Arab Emirates due to growing security concerns amid increasing tensions with India.

PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi, who is also the country’s interior minister, said the decision was reached for the sake of the safety of players.

“The PCB has always stood by the position that politics and sports need to be kept apart,” he said.

“However, in view of the extremely irresponsible and dangerous Indian act of targeting the stadium, the PCB has taken this decision,” Naqvi was quoted as saying in the statement issued by the board.

Several drones were reportedly launched by India on Thursday morning, including at least three on Pakistan’s Rawalpindi city, one of which was reported to have come down within the compound of Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium, which is currently hosting Pakistan Super League matches.

Pakistan’s US envoy says India, Pakistan have had contact at national security level

Pakistan’s ambassador to the US, Rizwan Saeed Sheikh, said there has been contact at the level of national security, but called for the escalation “both in terms of the actions that have been taken and in terms of rhetoric that is coming out” to stop.

“Now the responsibility for de-escalation is on India, but there are constraints on restraint. Pakistan reserves the right to respond back. There is enough pressure from our public opinion on the government to respond,” he said in an interview with CNN.

What are India and Pakistan’s nuclear capabilities?

India carried out its first nuclear test in May 1974, and in May 1998, conducted another five tests, declaring itself a nuclear weapons state.

Pakistan carried out its first nuclear tests shortly after India’s in 1998, officially becoming a nuclear weapons state.

Since then, the two born together, star-crossed nations have been engaged in an arms race that has cost them billions of dollars.

A recap of recent developments

As tensions soar between India and Pakistan, misinformation and unconfirmed rumours of attacks were rife on both sides of the Radcliffe Line.

Here’s what you need to know:

• The Pakistani military has claimed India fired attack drones into Pakistan on Thursday, killing at least two civilians. Pakistan’s military has also said it has downed 25 Indian drones over its territory.
• India has claimed Pakistan attacked Akhnoor, Samba, Kathua and multiple other locations in Jammu in Indian-administered Kashmir.
• India also claimed that Pakistan has fired missiles and drones at military stations in Jammu, Pathankot and Udhampur, close to the countries’ shared border.
• Indian media has also reported that a Pakistani air force pilot was captured by Indian security forces after ejecting from his fighter jet over the city of Jaisalmer.
• Pakistan’s Information Minister Attaullah Tarar has denied that Pakistan launched any attacks in Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday, saying the country’s military has not fired “across [the] international border”. He also denied a Pakistani pilot had been captured.
• US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, in calls with leaders of both India and Pakistan, “emphasised the need for immediate de-escalation”, US State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said.

Welcome to our coverage

Hello, and thank you for joining our coverage of the fighting between India and Pakistan after the deadly attack in Pahalgam in Indian-administered Kashmir last month.

Follow this page for up-to-the-minute updates on the latest developments, along with context and analysis.

India intercepted drones, attacks in Jammu, according to media reports

There’s currently a complete electricity blackout in the Hindu-majority region of Jammu and Kashmir, says journalist Umar Meraj.

“The Indian news outlets are reporting that they have intercepted drones and attacks on several locations in Jammu,” Meraj told Al Jazeera, speaking from Srinigar, in Indian-administered Kashmir.

Sirens are being heard in Jammu and several villages near the Line of Control, Meraj added.

“The clashes between the India and Pakistan forces are far more intense than in previous years. What used to be occasional small firearms have escalated to the heavy exchange of artillery,” the journalist explained.

Pakistani drones target Indian-administered Kashmir: Report

There have been attacks in Akhnoor, Samba, Kathua and multiple other locations in Jammu in Indian-administered Kashmir, Reuters reports, citing an unnamed Indian official.

Reuters is also citing Indian military sources as saying that a likely drone attack launched by Pakistan has targeted the area around Jammu Airport in Kashmir.

We will bring you more information as we get it.

Pakistan’s Punjab province to close all schools for two days: Report

Pakistan’s Punjab government has announced the closure of all public and private schools across the province on tomorrow and Saturday, according to a memo issued by Secretary School Education Khalid Nazir Wattoo, Pakistani outlet Dawn reported.

“However, examinations scheduled by/on behalf of International Examining bodies [O Level and A Level] shall continue as scheduled,” Dawn cited the memo as stating.

The British Council Pakistan had earlier cancelled many exams – including the GCE, IGCSE, IELTS and University of London exams scheduled for today in Lahore “due to the developing situation”, Dawn reported.

Twenty-nine drones have been neutralised by the Pakistani army: Military spokesperson

Pakistan’s military spokesman Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry has released a statement in which he said:

• India needs to cut out the “drama” and “war hysteria”.
• When Pakistan will strike back, “the whole world will come to know” – we are not dependent on India’s media to report on it.
• Twenty-nine drones have been neutralised by the Pakistani army.
• Pakistanis have been going about their lives as normal. Though the drone attacks are meant to instil fear in the population, Pakistanis are not scared.

Suspension of Indus Water Treaty poses serious energy security risk for Pakistan

Analysts have said the suspension of the Indus Water Treaty (IWT), which regulates three eastern rivers – Ravi, Sutlej and Beas, poses a serious energy security risk for Pakistan.

Oslo-based think tank Rystad Energy said Pakistan sees 90 percent of its total hydropower capacity disrupted due to altered water flows from India.

“If the treaty were to be terminated altogether, India would gain full control of the Indus, Jhelum and Chenab rivers, enabling it to build more hydropower projects and potentially operate existing upstream facilities in ways that could adversely affect its downstream neighbour,” analyst Uttamarani Pati said in an email sent to Al Jazeera.

“While India is less reliant on hydropower, further escalation could still put its energy infrastructure at risk.”

India and Pakistan nuclear stockpile a defensive move

Security analyst Syed Mohammed Ali says the nuclear weapons possessed by India and Pakistan “create a scenario for mutually assured destruction”.

“Pakistan and India have enough nuclear weapons to wipe the other side out several times over,” Ali, who is based in Islamabad, the Pakistani capital, told The AP news agency.

Both countries have “deliberately developed” the size and range of their stockpile to remind the other about the guarantee of mutually assured destruction, he adds.

The arsenals are a defensive move to prevent and deter further fighting, because “neither side can afford to initiate such a war or hope to achieve anything from it,” Ali says.

Pakistan’s Punjab province to close all schools for two days: Report

Pakistan’s Punjab government has announced the closure of all public and private schools across the province on tomorrow and Saturday, according to a memo issued by Secretary School Education Khalid Nazir Wattoo, Pakistani outlet Dawn reported.

“However, examinations scheduled by/on behalf of International Examining bodies [O Level and A Level] shall continue as scheduled,” Dawn cited the memo as stating.

The British Council Pakistan had earlier cancelled many exams – including the GCE, IGCSE, IELTS and University of London exams scheduled for today in Lahore “due to the developing situation”, Dawn reported.

Next hours ‘critical’ amid serious escalation risks

The  crisis between India and Pakistan appears to be “at a crossroads,” Washington-based South Asia analyst Michael Kugelman has told Al Jazeera.

“India has said it has no intention of further military action, unless it is attacked by Pakistan. For now, Pakistan has vowed retaliation for the initial Indian air strikes but it has also said it wants de-escalation,” he said.

“Amid reports of missile and drone attacks, Pakistan’s vow to respond may sharpen,” he continued. “We’ve gone beyond the strike, counterstrike, de-escalation pattern that has marked the most recent crises.”

Additional action by either side would send “escalation risks through the roof”. “So the next few hours will be critical,” Kugelman said.

More from Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar

• Pakistan’s armed forces downed Indian fighter jets; UAVs, with much “bravery”.
• India’s claim it attacked Pakistan’s military installations “is a big lie”.
• India’s claims that Pakistan launched overnight attacks is a “concocted story”.
• My fellow countrymen and women, there’s no need to worry. Your country’s armed forces “are fully alert”.
• Tomorrow, we have a national security meeting and we will respond to India’s attacks.

Is a drone war emerging between India and Pakistan?

Pakistan’s military said on Thursday morning that the country’s air defence system had brought down 25 Indian drones overnight over some of the country’s chief cities, including Lahore and Karachi. At least one civilian has died, and five people were wounded, it said.

India’s Defence Ministry confirmed hours later that it had targeted Pakistan’s air defence radars and claimed it was able to “neutralize” one defence system in Lahore. It said Pakistan had attempted to attack India and Indian-administered Kashmir with drones and missiles overnight, but that these had been shot down.

The drone attacks represent the latest escalation between the nuclear-armed neighbours, a day after India launched deadly missile strikes on Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir, killing at least 31 people, according to Islamabad. Those were the most extensive Indian strikes on Pakistan outside the four wars they have fought. Heavy artillery shelling from both sides overnight caused border communities in the disputed Kashmir region to flee.

Read more here.

Pakistan has ‘exercised strategic restraint’ but ‘deserves to respond’: Foreign minister

Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar is currently holding a briefing. Here’s what he said:

• Pakistan “categorically denies” any actions that would impact the civilian population in India. “We deeply empathise with civilians,” Dar said.
• Several armed Indian drones violated Pakistani airspace, while New Delhi also made attempts to attack military installations.
• Pakistan has so far “exercised strategic restraint” and limited its response strictly for self-defence in accordance with international law and the UN charter.
• “Pakistan deserves to respond to India at a place, time and manner of its choosing,” said Dar.

Pahalgam was a ‘false flag’ attack to obtain IWT change, minister says

Pakistan’s former minister for water and power has said the attack in Pahalgam on April 22 was a “false flag” by India, allowing New Delhi to withdraw its involvement in the Indus Water Treaty, among other measures.

The IWT is a transboundary water agreement that allows the two countries to share water flowing from the Indus basin.

Musadiq Malik, currently Pakistan’s minister for climate change and environmental coordination, told Al Jazeera that India was “trying to achieve legal changes”.

“They ended up doing [this] by saying we’re not bound by it,” he said. “If they’re not bound by it, other countries aren’t bound by it either.”

Last month, Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif also called the Pahalgam attack a “false flag” without offering any evidence to back up his claims.

Pakistan PM says territorial integrity defended at ‘all costs’ in call with US’s Rubio

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has said Pakistan’s sovereignty and territorial integrity will be defended “at all costs” in a phone call with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Rubio emphasised the need for India and Pakistan to work closely to de-escalate the situation, the Pakistani government said in a statement.

The US official also noted that Washington was closely monitoring the situation and was committed to promoting peace and stability in the region.

What happened during the Pahalgam attack?

India’s military operation in Pakistan came two weeks after a deadly attack in Indian-administered Kashmir’s Pahalgam area, which killed 26 people.

India blamed Islamabad for the attack – a charge Pakistan strongly denies. Here is a brief summary of how the attack unfolded:

• At about 2:45pm (09:15 GMT) on April 22, armed men in camouflage clothes emerged from a nearby forest in the famous resort town.
• The attackers opened indiscriminate fire at Baisaran meadow, a scenic uphill area accessible only by foot or pony rides, and caught victims, mostly tourists, off guard, according to officials.
• At least 25 Indian nationals and one Nepalese citizen were killed – the deadliest such attack in a quarter-century in Indian-administered Kashmir.
• The attack also unfolded as US Vice President JD Vance was on a five-day India trip.

Pakistan aviation suspends operations at Karachi airport

Pakistan’s aviation authority has said it would suspend all flights at Karachi airport until 12am local time [19:00 GMT].

It said all activity would be suspended for “operational reasons”.

‘No panic here’: Pakistan’s Rawalpindi city calm amid heightened security

Pakistan said at least three drones were intercepted in Rawalpindi, a city that lies adjacent to the capital, Islamabad.

Despite the incidents, residents say there is no panic in the city and everything is going along as normal. One person is reported to have been wounded in the alleged attack.

“Despite what happened, life is going along as normal in Rawalpindi,” Arooj Fatima, a resident, told Al Jazeera.

“There is no panic here. In fact, a lot of people here do not realise what an escalation of events could cause and are urging the Pakistan army to attack India. People do not know what could happen, but while there is apprehension, there is no fear or panic.”

The road near the stadium where one drone reportedly hit has been blocked off by security officials.

India directs media platforms to suspend Pakistan-based media content

Citing the deadly Pahalgam attacks last month, India’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has advised “all OTT platforms, media streaming platforms and intermediaries” operating in the country to “discontinue the web-series, films, songs, podcasts and other streaming media content, whether made available on a subscription based model or otherwise, having its origins in Pakistan with immediate effect”.

India to put forward position on Pakistan’s loans at next IMF board meet

India’s executive director at the International Monetary Fund will put forward the country’s position at a board meeting on Friday, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri says.

His comments came in response to a reporter’s question on New Delhi asking for a review of loans to Pakistan.

Pakistan’s defence minister says ‘hardly any space left to de-escalate’

Pakistan Defence Minister Khawaja Asif has told Reuters there was “hardly any space left to de-escalate” as the conflict is “entering a blind alley”.

Asif said the US was leading de-escalation efforts but that India’s drone attacks made Pakistan’s response “increasingly certain”.

The minister said Pakistan would target India’s military installations in retaliation.

Pakistan is violating Indus Water Treaty, Indian foreign secretary says

Vikram Misri said in his special briefing on the tensions between India and Pakistan that Islamabad was “the one acting in violation of the Indus Water Treaty”, which India suspended following the attack in Pahalgam.

The foreign secretary accused Pakistan of creating roadblocks to prevent India from exercising its right to carry out projects on the western rivers.

He stressed that Pakistan’s claim that a dam was hit by India in an attack was a “blatant lie”.

Information war: Are India and Pakistan telling the truth about attacks?

Competing news briefings. Divergent claims. And conflicting narratives.

As Indian attacks on Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir early on May 7 pulled the nuclear-armed neighbours to the brink of a potential military conflict, a parallel war quickly broke out – over information.

Within hours of the Indian strikes, authorities on both sides continue to put out claims and counterclaims that have been amplified on social media as each country tries to control the narrative in its favour.

Five Indian jets were downed, Pakistan said, for instance. India has yet to respond to the claim; Indian officials who requested anonymity said three jets had crashed in Indian-administered Kashmir but did not confirm whether they were Indian or Pakistani planes.

Read our explainer here.

Flights temporarily suspended at three airports in Pakistan: Report

The Reuters news agency reports that flight operations at Pakistan’s Karachi, Lahore, and Sialkot airports have been temporarily suspended.

According to the news agency, services will be unavailable until 12 noon local time (07:00 GMT) at Lahore and Sialkot, according to the Pakistan’s Civil Aviation Authority.

There were no further details for Karachi airport or what had prompted the flight suspensions.

Indian spy drone downed in Lahore: Report

Earlier, we reported that an unidentified explosion had been reported in the Pakistani city of Lahore.

Citing local police officials, Pakistani news outlet Samaa TV now reports that an Indian drone was shot down near Walton road in the city.

We will bring you more information when we have it.

15 civilians killed by Pakistani shelling in Indian-administered Kashmir

There was panic in the border town of Poonch in Indian-administered Kashmir on Wednesday, not far from the Line of Control separating it from Pakistan-administered Kashmir, as Pakistan’s military carried out several deadly attacks.

Many of those who were rushed to hospital were women and children.

What are India and Pakistan’s military and nuclear capabilities?

India carried out its first nuclear test in May 1974, and in May 1998, conducted another five tests, declaring itself a nuclear weapons state.

Pakistan carried out its first nuclear tests shortly after India’s in 1998, officially becoming a nuclear weapons state.

Since then, the two nations have been engaged in an arms race that has cost them billions of dollars.

According to Global Firepower’s 2025 military strength rankings, India is the fourth-strongest military power in the world, and Pakistan is ranked as the 12th strongest.

India’s total military strength is 5,137,550 personnel, which is almost three times larger than Pakistan’s 1,704,000.

India possesses 2,229 military aircraft, compared with Pakistan’s 1,399.

While India has 3,151 combat tanks, compared with Pakistan’s 1,839.

Read the full report here.

Pakistan-India ‘dog fight’ one of largest, longest in recent aviation history: Report

As we reported on Tuesday, the Pakistani military claimed that it had “downed Indian fighter jets” during fighting earlier this week.

A senior unnamed Pakistani security source has now told CNN that Pakistan’s military downed five Indian planes in what he described as one of the “largest and longest” aviation “dog fight[s]” in recent history.

The source said that a total of 125 fighter jets from both sides battled for over an hour earlier this week. He added that neither side left their own airspace and missile exchanges were happening at distances sometimes greater than 160km (100 miles).

Blasts heard in Pakistani city of Lahore

The Reuters news agency, citing geo reporting and witnesses on the ground, reports that blasts have been heard in the city of Lahore in Pakistan’s Punjab province.

We will bring you more information when we have it.

Trump says he hopes India and Pakistan stop now after going ‘tit-for-tat’

US President Donald Trump said he hoped India and Pakistan would stop their escalation after they had “gone tit-for-tat”.

“They’ve gone tit-for-tat, so hopefully they can stop now,” Trump said at the White House on Wednesday, adding he knew both sides “very well” and wanted “to see them work it out”.

“And if I can do anything to help, I will be there,” he added.

The US State Department said that Secretary of State Marco Rubio had discussed efforts to de-escalate tensions between New Delhi and Islamabad with his Saudi Arabian counterpart in a call earlier on Wednesday.

India–Pakistan conflict offers ‘strategic openings’ to China, Iran while limiting US influence

We posted earlier on how the Australian National University’s Alam Saleh said the escalating tension between India and Pakistan would be to China’s advantage and the US’s disadvantage in terms of regional geopolitics.

Saleh, a senior lecturer in politics and international relations at ANU, said sustained tension between India and Pakistan would tie down New Delhi’s attention and resources and place limits on its regional assertiveness and growing alignment with the US.

The US also finds itself in a “delicate position” between India – “a strategic partner” – on one hand, and Pakistan – a longtime, though complicated “security actor” – on the other, Saleh said.

Amid the tension, Iran “quietly benefits”, he added.

“As the US struggles with simultaneous crises in the Middle East and South Asia, its capacity to pressure Tehran, particularly in the context of faltering nuclear negotiations, is diminished,” Saleh told Al Jazeera.

“A distracted and overstretched Washington gives Iran more room to manoeuvre both regionally and diplomatically,” he said.

“In sum, the India–Pakistan conflict offers strategic openings to both China and Iran, while placing the United States in a position of reactive limitation rather than proactive influence,” he added.

Meta blocks Indian users from accessing Muslim news page on Instagram

Instagram’s parent company Meta has blocked Indian users from accessing a prominent Muslim news page on the social media site, as hostilities escalate between India and Pakistan.

Instagram users in India attempting to access the page – which uses the handle @Muslim and has 6.7 million followers – were met with the message: “Account not available in India. This is because we complied with a legal request to restrict this content.”

“I received hundreds of messages, emails and comments from our followers in India, that they cannot access our account,” Ameer al-Khatahtbeh, the account’s founder and editor, said in a statement.

“Meta has blocked the @Muslim account by legal request of the Indian government. This is censorship,” he added.

Meta declined to comment when contacted by AFP. But a spokesman for the firm directed the news agency to a company webpage outlining its policy for restricting content when governments believe material on its platforms goes “against local law”.

Access has also been blocked to the social media accounts of Pakistani actors and cricketers over recent days.

India-Pakistan tension a strategic benefit for China, puts US in ‘delicate position’: Analyst

Alam Saleh, senior lecturer in politics and international relations at the Australian National University, said the escalation in tension between India and Pakistan again “underscores the fragility of regional stability in South Asia”.

Saleh told Al Jazeera that the clashes between India and Pakistan also have “broader geopolitical reverberations”, particularly for China’s geo-strategic positioning in the region.

“China stands to benefit strategically from sustained Indo-Pakistan tensions. As a close ally of Pakistan and a regional competitor to India, Beijing views Islamabad as a key counterweight to Indian influence,” Saleh said.

“Continued instability ties down Indian resources and attention, limiting its regional assertiveness and alignment with US Indo-Pacific objectives. China is thus likely to maintain and deepen its support for Pakistan, both diplomatically and militarily,” he said.

“The United States finds itself in a delicate position. As a strategic partner of India and a longtime, though complicated, security actor in Pakistan, Washington is constrained from fully siding with either party,” he added.

“Escalation threatens to undermine [the US’s] broader Indo-Pacific strategy and further complicate its waning influence in the region.”

Pakistan vows retaliation after India launches air strikes

Pakistan’s government has pledged to respond to India’s attack “at a time, place and manner of its choosing”.

The government also said that it would “avenge the loss of innocent Pakistani lives and blatant violation of its sovereignty” following India’s missile attacks that killed at least 31 and injured dozens.

India said 13 civilians have been killed and 43 wounded on the Indian side of the Line of Control dividing Indian- and Pakistan-administered Kashmir, where heavy cross-border shelling and gunfire were reported.

Read the full report here.

India-Pakistan posturing for domestic gain, but risk of war looms – Analysis

Georgetown University assistant professor Uday Chandra has characterised the ongoing crisis as a performative “game of chicken” aimed at domestic audiences in India and Pakistan, with backchannel negotiations quietly persisting.

Chandra, while highlighting Pakistan’s pledge to see the conflict through to its “logical conclusion”, dismissed the likelihood of full-scale war.

He said unverified claims from Pakistan of downed Indian jets – fiercely contested by Delhi – exemplify the current “fog of war”. Chandra also stressed that civilian casualties have exposed India’s security lapses, intensifying political pressure on New Delhi.

A recap of recent developments

Here’s what you need to know:

• Pakistan has said 31 civilians have been killed and dozens wounded by India’s strikes on Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir. India said 13 people have been killed in cross-border attacks from Pakistan, including one soldier.
• Addressing parliament, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said Pakistan’s military shot down five Indian fighter jets during India’s assault.
• India claims its attacks have hit “terror” training sites; Pakistan says mosques and civilians were struck, calling it an “act of war” and promising a robust response.
• Pakistan’s National Security Committee said it has authorised the country’s armed forces to retaliate against India’s attacks, saying Pakistan reserves the right to respond “at a time, place, and manner of its choosing”.
• Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif has said Islamabad is looking to avoid an all-out war with India, but must be prepared for one.
• World powers – including the UK, France, Germany, Iran, Turkiye, Qatar and the UAE – have urged both nuclear-armed nations to show restraint and return to diplomacy.
• Iran has offered to mediate peace talks, and Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has already held separate discussions with both India and Pakistan over the past day.

Iran’s FM arrives in India

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has landed in New Delhi, where he will hold talks with his Indian counterpart, Iranian news outlets report.

Araghchi had visited Pakistan earlier this week.

Iran has offered to mediate between India and Pakistan, underscoring that it enjoys good ties with both countries.

Blackout reported in India’s Punjab as part of drill

Indian news agency ANI says a blackout process has started in the Punjab region, which borders Pakistan, as part of an emergency preparedness exercise.

“Please stay at home, do not panic and do not gather outside your houses; keep the outside lights switched off,” ANI said, quoting local authorities.

How were India’s strikes on Pakistan a major escalation?

The Indian attacks were the most expansive since the neighbours last fought a full-fledged war in 1971 – a time when neither had nuclear weapons at their disposal as they do now.

Of the six places that Indian missiles struck, two are cities – Muzaffarabad and Kotli – in Pakistan-administered Kashmir. The region of Kashmir, one of the world’s most militarised zones, is claimed in full, and ruled in parts, by India and Pakistan, who have fought three wars over it.

But the other four targets that India struck are in Punjab -Bahawalpur, Muridke, Sialkot and Shakar Garh. Among them, Bahawalpur falls in southern Punjab province, facing the Thar desert, while Muridke is just next to Lahore, Pakistan’s second-largest city, with a population of 14 million.

The Indian military has not hit Punjab, Pakistan’s economic heartland that is also home to 60 percent of the country’s population, since 1971.

Indian air attacks since then have mostly targeted remote parts of Pakistan or Pakistan-administered Kashmir. Six years ago, Indian jets fired missiles at Balakot in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, after a suicide bomber killed at least 40 Indian paramilitary soldiers in Indian-administered Kashmir.

These May 7 attacks are different. Lahore, next to Muridke, is close to the Indian border and is Pakistan’s second-most populous city, pointed out Sumantra Bose, an Indian political scientist whose work focuses on the intersection of nationalism and conflict in South Asia. Bahawalpur, in southern Punjab, is also a key city.

Read more here.

‘Now is the time to lean into diplomacy’: US senator

Tim Kaine, a US Senator from Virginia, calls on New Delhi and Islamabad to find a “path towards de-escalation” and to ensure accountability for the Pahalgam attack.

“For the sake of innocent civilians in India and Pakistan – now is the time to lean into diplomacy,” the Democratic US senator wrote in a social media post.

India says soldier killed in cross-border attack

An Indian soldier, named as Dinesh Kumar, was killed in cross-border shelling on Wednesday, Indian media outlets report, citing the Indian Army.

The death brings the total number of people killed in India as a result of the cross-border violence to 13.

Islamabad confirms contact between Indian and Pakistani officials

Pakistani Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar says that the national security advisers of India and Pakistan have spoken amid the escalation between the two countries.

“There has been contact between the two, yes,” he told TRT World without providing further details.

Medical leave cancelled in Pakistan’s Sindh as hospitals declare state of emergency

Sindh province, which is home to Pakistan’s largest city Karachi and borders India, has made the decision following India’s air strikes in the early hours of Wednesday.

In a notice seen by the Pakistani news outlet Dawn, medical leave has been cancelled for all health personnel, including doctors, nurses and paramedics, with immediate effect until further notice.

Emergency response units have also been put on high alert.

Pakistan pushing for de-escalation of conflict despite wanting to respond to India’s attacks

Uday Chandra, assistant professor of government at Georgetown University in Qatar, says Pakistan is likely to retaliate but is not seeking an “all-out war”.

He noted that both sides are not engaged in direct talks. Rather, it’s other countries, including the US and China “who are calling for restraint – and kind of urging India to pull back”.

“I see the Pakistan strategy to push for de-escalating the conflict and to paint India as the aggressor,” he said. “So Pakistan detaches itself from the incident that took place two weeks ago in Indian-administered Kashmir.”

Meanwhile, there has been an expectation building from inside India that the government needs to retaliate.

“Both sides are speaking to their middle-class, TV-watching audiences,” Chandra said.

If you’re just joining us

Here’s a recap of the latest developments:

• Pakistan’s National Security Committee authorises the country’s military to “undertake corresponding actions” against India.

• The Pakistani military says the death toll from India’s attacks has risen to 31 civilians, with dozens of others injured.

• Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif says Islamabad is looking to avoid an all-out war with India but must be prepared for one.

• India carries out emergency readiness drills that saw a temporary blackout in New Delhi.

• US President Trump says the US is willing to help India and Pakistan stop the hostilities.

India’s home minister asks border states to be on high alert

Amit Shah says he has met with the governors of states bordering Pakistan and Nepal and asked them “to maintain the availability of essential goods and services and to keep relief and rescue forces” on alert.

“Instructed to monitor and take swift action on anti-national propaganda on all media platforms and to maintain seamless communication and security at vulnerable points,” Shah said in a social media post.

More than 20 airports across India closed until May 10: Report

At least 21 airports in northern and western India have been closed for passenger flights until May 10 following a government directive, the Hindu reports.

US Muslim group condemns India’s attacks

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) slams Modi’s government and accuses it of “anti-Muslim bigotry” and “extremism”.

“This deliberate targeting of civilians and religious sites – such as mosques – reflects the goals of the fascist, anti-Muslim Hindutva movement embodied by Narendra Modi,” CAIR executive director Nihad Awad said in a statement.

Pakistan says Indian attack endangered civilian aviation

Pakistani military spokesperson Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry says 57 flights were in the air during the Indian assault.

“There were multiple flights with thousands of passengers whose lives were put in grave danger,” Chaudhry was quoted as saying by Dawn newspaper.

“These were not just Pakistani flights, but there were Saudi flights, Qatari, Emirates, Etihad, Gulf Air, Chinese and Korean flights.”

Trump offers to help to end India-Pakistan crisis

US President Donald Trump says he wants to see an end to the escalation between India and Pakistan.

“I want to see it stop. And if I can do anything to help, I will be there,” he told reporters in the Oval Office.

“We want to see them work it out.”

Armed group says 10 relatives of leader killed in Indian attack

Jaish-e-Mohammed, one of the group’s India has blamed for last month’s Pahalgam attack, says that 10 relatives of its leader Masood Azhar were killed in India’s attacks on Pakistan overnight, the Reuters news agency reports.

The group did not say whether Azhar himself was killed.

Azhar was released from an Indian jail in 1999 in exchange for 155 hostages from a hijacked Indian Airlines plane.

Pakistan says it authorised its military to respond to Indian attack

Pakistan’s National Security Committee calls India’s assault a “heinous and shameful crime” in violation of international law.

“In consonance with Article-51 of the UN Charter, Pakistan reserves the right to respond, in self-defence, at a time, place, and manner of its choosing to avenge the loss of innocent Pakistani lives and blatant violation of its sovereignty,” the committee said in a statement.

“The Armed Forces of Pakistan have duly been authorized to undertake corresponding actions in this regard.”

India appeals for information on Pahalgam attack

India’s National Investigation Agency (NIA) has called on people with information or photographs related to the Pahalgam attack that killed 26 people in Indian-administered Kashmir last month to contact law enforcement.

The NIA “has now decided to scale up its efforts even more intensely to ensure that no useful information or evidence is missed out in its investigation into the horrendous crime against humanity”, the agency said in a statement.

India had alleged links between the attackers and Pakistan – claims that Islamabad has vehemently denied.

Erdogan conveys Turkiye’s solidarity to Pakistan PM

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke by phone with Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to convey his solidarity following India’s attacks, the Turkish presidency said.

During the call, Erdogan told Sharif that Turkiye supported what he called Pakistan’s “calm and restrained policies” in the crisis, his office said in a statement.

Erdogan also said he found “appropriate” Islamabad’s call for an investigation into an attack last month on Indian-administered Kashmir that triggered the crisis.

“Erdogan stated that Turkiye was ready to do what it can to prevent the tensions from escalating, and that his diplomatic contacts in that regard would continue,” the statement said.

Pakistan PM Sharif says India will ‘suffer the consequences’ in address to nation

Sharif addressed the Pakistani people in a televised speech shortly after he attended the funeral of seven-year-old Irtaza Abbas, who was killed in the Indian attack.

“We resolve that we will avenge the blood of our innocent martyrs,” Sharif said. “Last night, we showed that Pakistan can deliver a jaw-breaking response for its defence. At the Line of Control, the dogfight raged for about an hour. Pakistani pilots remained in their airspace, the enemy’s planes were shattered to pieces.”

“In conventional warfare last night, we proved that Pakistan prevailed.”

Sharif also emphasised Pakistan’s position on Kashmir. “As per international law, Jammu and Kashmir is a disputed territory and will remain until a plebiscite is done,” the prime minister said. “Regardless of how many unilateral decisions India takes, it cannot change the reality.”

Pakistan ‘trying to avoid’ full-fledged war: Defence minister

Khawaja Asif calls the Indian assault an “invitation to expand the conflict”.

Asif told CNN that his country is “trying to avoid” an all-out war with India but must be prepared for one.

“We cannot be caught with our guards down,” he said.

Welcome to our coverage

Hello, and thank you for joining our coverage of fighting between India and Pakistan after the deadly attack in Pahalgam in India-administered Kashmir last month.

Follow this page for up-to-the-minute updates on the latest developments, along with context and analysis.

Three civilians killed by Pakistani artillery fire, Indian army says

India’s army says three civilians were killed overnight by Pakistani artillery fire.

The Pakistani army “resorted to arbitrary firing” across the Line of Control, the de facto border dividing Kashmir, the army said in a statement.

“Three innocent civilians lost their lives in indiscriminate firing/shelling”, the army said, adding that Indian forces were “responding in proportionate manner”.

Pakistan’s PM condemns ‘cowardly attack’ on X

Pakistan’s prime minister is back on X condemning India’s “cowardly” and “unprovoked” attack.

“Pakistan reserves the absolute right to respond decisively to this unprovoked Indian attack — a resolute response is already under way,” Sharif wrote, according to a translation.

“The entire nation stands united behind its armed forces, and our morale and resolve remain unshaken,” he added.

Ramification of major armed conflict between Pakistan, India ‘devastating for both countries’

There is a risk of further escalation because, with the India-Pakistan equation, there is always a tit-for-tat.

Pakistan had said that it would respond forcefully.

Pakistan had also said that any attempt by India to divert the waters of the major rivers that are on the western side of the Indus River chain – and that includes the Chenab – that any river being diverted or water being cut off would be construed as an act of war.

The Indians have already resorted to that. We have reports that at least one major river, the Chenab, the Indians are holding water back and say that they will not release that water.

So that is a dangerous escalation because this is an existential threat. Pakistan is an agricultural country. It relies heavily on agriculture for its revenue and food security and Pakistani politicians, of course, have been saying that if the Indians stop those rivers, then those rivers will flow with blood.

So, at least at this moment, there should be caution by both sides. These are nuclear-armed states.

The ramifications of any major conflict between the two would be devastating for both countries.

Airlines, including Air India and Qatar Airways, suspend or divert flights

A growing list of airlines are suspending or rerouting flights.

Air India has announced the cancellation of all flights to and from nine cities, including Jammu, Srinagar and Leh in Indian-administered Kashmir, Jamnagar, Rajkot and Bhujuj in the western Indian state of Gujarat, and Amritsar in the northwestern Indian state of Punjab.

The airline said the routes would be suspended until midday on Wednesday, pending updates from authorities.

India’s SpiceJet and IndiGo have said that flights to and from destinations in northern India, including Jammu and  Dharamshala, have been affected.

Pakistan International Airlines has announced the diversion of already airborne flights to Karachi.

Qatar Airways has temporarily suspended flights to Pakistan due to the closure of Pakistani airspace.

Schools closed in Pakistan’s Punjab province

Maryam Nawaz Sharif, chief minister of the Pakistani province of Punjab, says that educational institutions will remain closed tomorrow “in view of public safety”.

Sharif said that examinations in universities and colleges would also be postponed, with the exception of tests administered by international examining bodies.

Rubio says monitoring situation closely

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio says he is “monitoring the situation between India and Pakistan closely.”

“I echo [Trump’s] comments earlier today that this hopefully ends quickly and will continue to engage both Indian and Pakistani leadership towards a peaceful resolution,” Rubio wrote in a post on X.

As we reported earlier, the Indian Embassy in Washington, DC said India had briefed Rubio shortly after the attacks against Pakistan.

Pakistan ‘not mincing its words’, confirms attacks on Indian military targets

Pakistani  Defence Minister Khawaja Asif, speaking to a foreign TV network, confirmed that at least five Indian aircraft have been shot down and that several Indian soldiers have been taken prisoner.

This is according to the Pakistani defence minister.

Pakistan said that it would respond to any Indian attack against Pakistan, and Pakistan is now responding to that Indian attack.

We are told that at least one infantry brigade headquarters has been destroyed. Heavy shelling has now resumed on the Line of Control that separates Pakistan-administered Kashmir from Indian-administered Kashmir.

Pakistan and India were both warned by the United States and friendly countries, including the United Nations secretary-general, who had asked both countries to exercise maximum restraint.

The Indian side said that they struck non-military targets but Pakistan is not mincing its words, saying that they had attacked Indian military targets in reprisal for what Pakistan says was an attack on innocent civilians.

People across Pakistan are now on the streets. They were woken up after that Indian strike.

A state of emergency was declared in the hospitals. All hospital staff have been asked to report to duty and that is the same situation in Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

Airports closed in Indian-administered Kashmir, northern India

India’s NDTV broadcaster is reporting that the airport in Srinagar, the largest city in Indian-administered Kashmir, has been closed to civilians.

India’s IndiGo airline has also advised passengers that flights to and from several airports are being affected by “changing airspace conditions in the region”.

According to IndiGo, the airports affected include Srinagar and Leh, in Indian-administered Kashmir, as well as Amritsar, Chandigarh, Bikaner, and Dharamshala, in northern India.

India’s SpiceJet also said, in a post on X, that airports in “parts of northern India” were closed “due to ongoing situation”.

UAE foreign minister urges restraint

In a statement, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed has called on both India and Pakistan to “exercise restraint, de-escalate tensions, and avoid further escalation that could threaten regional and international peace”.

Zayed “reaffirmed that diplomacy and dialogue remain the most effective means of peacefully resolving crises, and achieving the shared aspirations of nations for peace, stability, and prosperity”, the statement said.

At least 8 killed in Pakistan as six locations targeted by Indian missiles: ISPR chief

Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, director general of the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) of Pakistan’s armed forces, delivered a brief late-night press conference in which he revealed that at least eight Pakistanis were killed and at least 35 more were injured in Indian missile attacks.

Chaudhry said that India’s military targeted six different locations in Pakistan, launching a total of 24 strikes.

The biggest attack was in Ahmedpur Sharqia, near Bahawalpur city in Punjab province. According to Chaudhry, a mosque compound was targeted and five people were killed, including a 3-year-old girl.

Other attacks took place in Muridke city, a village near the city of Sialkot, and Shakargarh, also in Punjab province.

Two locations in Pakistan-administered Kashmir – in Muzzafarabad and Kotli – were also targeted and two mosques were destroyed. A 16-year-old girl and an 18-year-old boy were killed in the attacks.

The military spokesperson did not provide any information regarding earlier claims of the downing of Indian jets.

Pakistan’s Defense Minister claims more planes shot down, soldiers captured

Speaking to Bloomberg TV, Pakistan’s Defense Minister Asif said that Pakistan has shot down five Indian planes and has also taken some Indian soldiers prisoner.

We’ve been reporting on Pakistan’s claims it has shot down Indian fighter jets, but Indian officials have yet to comment.

Pakistan says 2 mosques targeted in India strikes

A Pakistani military spokesman told the broadcaster Geo that sites struck by India included two mosques.

Pakistan’s defence minister, Khawaja Muhammad Asif, told Geo that all sites targeted by India were civilian and not infrastructure of armed groups. He said India’s claim of targeting “camps of terrorists is false”.

India blamed Pakistan for violence in Indian-administered Kashmir last month, in which 26 men were killed, and had promised to respond. Pakistan denied it had anything to do with the killings and said it had intelligence that India was planning to attack.

Pakistani minister claims downed third Indian jet, drone

Pakistan’s Information Minister Attaullah Tarar now says that a third Indian jet, as well as an Indian drone, have been “shot down by Pakistan.”

“Pakistan has befittingly retaliated against Indian Aggression,” Tarar said in a post on X.

There was no immediate comment from India.

Pakistan’s military ‘response is under way’ to Indian attack

Pakistan’s military ‘response is under way’ to Indian attack

Reports have come in, confirmed by Pakistani military sources, that at least two [Indian] aircraft were shot down. We are now getting reports of a possible third fixed-wing aircraft also being shot down.

The Indian attack unfolded just after midnight [Wednesday] local Pakistan time [19:00 GMT on Tuesday]. We were able to observe a number of fighter aircraft… we could hear the noise of possible Pakistani aircraft on their way towards the Indian positions because now, we are told that Pakistan is giving its response. That response is under way.

Pakistani sources are also now saying that they have destroyed a brigade headquarters.

I spoke to one of our reporters in Pakistan-administered Kashmir. He said there was heavy shelling going on along the Line of Control. That the civilian population was leaving those areas and, of course, an emergency has also been declared in Pakistani-administer Kashmir.

In hospitals, all staff leave has been cancelled.

India briefed US after missile attack on Pakistan

Indian National Security Adviser Ajit Doval briefed US Secretary of State Marco Rubio shortly after the attacks against Pakistan, the Indian Embassy in Washington, DC, says.

“India’s actions have been focused and precise,” the embassy said in a statement.

It added that Rubio, who is also Trump’s acting US national security adviser, had been briefed “on the actions taken”.

Pakistan speaks of ‘crushing response’

In a social media post, Pakistan’s information minister, Attaullah Tarar, accused India of carrying out “cowardly attacks on innocent civilians and mosques”.

India said it had hit “terrorist infrastructure”, claiming it struck sites where attacks against it were planned and directed.

In his post, Tarar said that “the Armed Forces of Pakistan are delivering a crushing response, exactly in line with the sentiments of the people”, without offering details.

“This nation will hold the enemy accountable for every single drop of its martyrs’ blood,” he added.

How many wars have India and Pakistan fought?

Four – three of them over Kashmir.

Two months after the end of the British rule and emergence of the two South Asian nations, a war over Kashmir erupted between them. Pakistani militias invaded Kashmir, then ruled by a Hindu king, to claim full control over the region. The king, Hari Singh, pleaded with India for help. New Delhi agreed on condition that Singh would sign an instrument of accession, merging Kashmir with India. The king agreed. The war ended in 1948, and a ceasefire agreement allowing India and Pakistan to control parts of Kashmir came into effect on January 1, 1949.

In 1965, a clash between Indian and Pakistani border forces escalated into a full-blown war. Pakistani forces crossed the ceasefire line into Indian-administered Kashmir, while Indian forces crossed the international border into Pakistan’s Lahore city and launched attacks. After thousands of casualties on both sides, a UN Security Council resolution ended the war.

In 1971, Pakistan and India were embroiled in an armed conflict over then East Pakistan, which Indian forces helped liberate, leading to the establishment of Bangladesh as a nation. In 1972, India and Pakistan signed the Simla Agreement, which established a Line of Control (LoC), the de facto border dividing Kashmir into two parts.

In 1999, Pakistani soldiers crossed the LoC, sparking a war in Kargil area of Indian-administered Kashmir. Indian troops were able to push Pakistani soldiers back after bloody battles in the snowy heights of the Ladakh region.

Last month, after decades of troubled relations, the two countries began directly trading for the first time, with Dhaka importing 50,000 tonnes of rice from Pakistan. Direct flights and military contacts have also been revived, visa procedures have been simplified, and there are reports of co-operation on security matters.

The countries – separated by the landmass of India – have deep, painful historical ties. The animosity between them goes back to 1971, when Bangladesh – then known as East Pakistan – launched a struggle to gain independence from Islamabad. India supported the Bengali rebels during the nine-month war which led to the formation of Bangladesh.

While the scars from that period run deep, Dhaka had cordial relations with Islamabad between 2001 and 2006, when a coalition of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and the Jamaat-e-Islami governed the country.

This changed during Hasina’s 15-year rule from 2009 – when she was strongly backed by Delhi and maintained a distance from Pakistan. But after she fled to India following mass protests against her government, ties seem to be thawing.

“For the past 15 years, the Pakistan-Bangladesh relationship was on a slightly difficult trajectory,” says Humayun Kabir, a former senior Bangladeshi diplomat, adding that the relationship seems to now be returning to that of “two normal neighbours”.

The developments are being watched closely, particularly in India, which has a long history of hostile relations with Pakistan.

Relations between Dhaka and Delhi have been frosty since Hasina’s exit. India has not reacted to Bangladesh’s demands to extradite her to face charges of crimes against humanity, money laundering and corruption. Hasina denies the accusations against her.

Some experts think the reviving of relations between Dhaka and Islamabad is a strategic move.

“Pakistan and Bangladesh have a tactical relationship at the moment. Together, they want to represent a pushback against the dominance of India,” says Ayesha Siddiqa, a Pakistani academic who is a senior fellow at King’s College in London.

There have been other developments apart from starting direct trade.

Muhammad Yunus, head of the interim Bangladesh government, met Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif at multilateral forums several times in recent months.

And then there is a growing military relationship.

A high-level Bangladeshi military delegation made a rare visit to Pakistan in January and held talks with influential army chief General Asim Munir. The Bangladeshi navy also participated in a multinational maritime exercise organised by Pakistan off the Karachi coast in February. .

Veena Sikri, who was India’s high commissioner to Bangladesh between 2003 and 2006, describes the growing closeness between Dhaka and Islamabad as a “déjà vu” moment.

During her tenure in Dhaka, she said, India repeatedly raised the issue of “Indian insurgents getting trained inside Bangladesh with the support of the ISI [Pakistan’s intelligence agency] and a section of the Bangladeshi military”.

“We even provided evidence to Bangladeshi authorities,” she said.

Authorities in Pakistan and Bangladesh denied these allegations at the time.

The long, porous border between India and Bangladesh makes it relatively easy for armed insurgent groups from India’s north-eastern states to cross over from Bangladesh. But, after Hasina’s Awami League came to power in 2009, it cracked down on these groups and dismantled their bases.

So the revival of military ties between Bangladesh and Pakistan is “a major security concern for India”, says Ms Sikri.

“It’s not just the military relationship. The Pakistani establishment is also reviving ties with Bangladeshi Islamist parties like the Jamaat-e-Islami, which supported Islamabad during Bangladesh’s independence war,” she adds.

The Yunus administration’s press office has flatly rejected Indian media reports that senior ISI officials have visited Dhaka. It has also described reports that claim Pakistani operatives were working to reopen a camp of an Indian insurgent group in Bangladesh as “baseless”.

Pakistan’s military did not respond to BBC questions on India’s concerns over the future role of the ISI in Bangladesh.

Analysts say Bangladeshi politicians are aware that, given the close economic and linguistic ties, Dhaka cannot afford to take an anti-India stance.

And despite apprehensions in Delhi, Bangladeshi diplomats argue that ties with Pakistan cannot be normalised unless issues related to the 1971 war are resolved.

During the war, hundreds of thousands of Bengalis were killed and tens of thousands of women were raped. The war ended with more than 90,000 Pakistani security and civilian personnel surrendering to the joint command of Indian and Bangladeshi forces in what is seen as a humiliating chapter in Islamabad.

Bangladesh has demanded a formal apology from Pakistan for the atrocities committed during the war but Islamabad has shown no inclination to do so.

“Pakistan needs to own the crimes that had taken place during the independence war,” said Mr Kabir, the former Bangladeshi diplomat. “We had also raised the issue of the division of pre-1971 assets between the two nations in several bilateral meetings with Pakistan.”

Even former Pakistani military officers like Ikram Sehgal accept that “the main stumbling block in bilateral ties is the requirement of the Bangladeshis that Pakistanis should apologise for what happened in 1971”.

However, the retired Pakistan army major insists that Bangladesh should also address the issue of attacks by Bengalis on Urdu speakers during the struggle for independence.

“I was a witness to the atrocities that took place against the Urdu-speaking Bihari people [in East Pakistan],” Mr Sehgal, who now lives in Karachi, told the BBC.

While history casts a shadow over ties between Dhaka and Islamabad, economists point out the two countries can first focus on improving bilateral trade, which currently stands at less than $700m (£540m), mostly in favour of Pakistan.

“Pakistan’s more than 250 million population is a solid market for Bangladesh in the medium to long term,” says Sabrin Beg, an associate professor of economics at the University of Delaware.

Currently, there are constraints including high tariffs on both sides and businesses and exporters face visa and travel obstacles, she points out. However, Ms Beg says “improved bilateral political and trade relations will ease these constraints”.

Some of these issues may be discussed during Pakistani foreign minister Ishaq Dar’s visit to Dhaka in April. By the end of the year Bangladesh is expected to hold general elections and a new government may have a different set of foreign policy priorities.

But, whatever happens, the stakes are high for Delhi, which strongly feels that a stable and friendly Bangladesh is necessary to maintain peace and stability in its north-eastern states.

The military spokesperson said 33 militants were killed during the operation.

Twenty-one civilian hostages and four military personnel were killed by the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) before the operation began, the military spokesperson said.

The military continues its search operation in the area to rule out any remaining threats.

The Pakistani authorities – as well as several Western countries, including the UK and US – have designated the BLA as a terrorist organisation.

The BLA is one of the rebel groups demanding either greater autonomy or independence for Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest province.

They accuse Islamabad of exploiting the province’s rich mineral resources while also neglecting it. In the past, they have attacked military camps, railway stations and trains – but this is the first time they have hijacked a train.

At least 100 of those on the train were members of the security forces, officials have said.

The militants had threatened to kill hostages if authorities did not release Baloch political prisoners within 48 hours, according to local reports.

During the attack, the militants blew up a section of the tracks and opened fire on the train near a mountain tunnel.

Officials had difficulty communicating with passengers at the time of the attack, because the remote area has no internet or mobile coverage.

Helicopters and hundreds of troops were deployed to rescue the hostages. More than 100 passengers had been freed by Wednesday morning.

The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) confirmed it had attacked the Jaffar Express Train which was travelling from Quetta to Peshawar.

A statement from the separatist group said it had bombed the track before storming the train in remote Sibi district. It claimed the train was under its control.

Pakistani police told local reporters that they had received information that three people, including the train driver, had been injured in the attack.

Police added that security forces had been sent to the scene of the attack.

A Balochistan government spokesman told local newspaper Dawn that there were reports of “intense firing” at the train.

The BLA claims that it is holding a number of passengers including security officers hostage, and has warned of “severe consequences” if an attempt is made to rescue those it is holding.

However, officials have not yet confirmed that anyone is being held hostage.

Quetta’s railway controller Muhammad Kashif told the BBC that 400-450 passengers had been booked on the train but said they had no independent verification that anyone had been taken hostage.

A senior police official from the area bordering Sibi said “the train remains stuck just before a tunnel surrounded by mountains”, AFP news agency reports.

Meanwhile the country’s interior minister Mohsin Nawaz has condemned the attack and said he prayed for the speedy recovery of those injured.

Officials are yet to communicate with anyone on the train.

The area the express is stopped in has no internet and mobile network coverage, officials told the BBC.

Balochistan is Pakistan’s largest province and the richest in terms of natural resources, but it is the least developed. The Baloch Liberation Army has waged a decades-long insurgency to gain independence and has launched numerous deadly attacks, often targeting police stations, railway lines and highways.

The 10-year-old’s life is limited to her one-bedroom home in Islamabad and the dirt road outside it. Since December she hasn’t been to her local school, when it decided it would no longer accept Afghans without a valid Pakistani birth certificate. But even if she could go to classes, Nabila says she wouldn’t.

“I was off sick one day, and I heard police came looking for Afghan children,” she cries, as she tells us her friend’s family were sent back to Afghanistan.

Nabila’s not her real name – all the names of Afghans quoted in this article have been changed for their safety.

Pakistan’s capital and the neighbouring city of Rawalpindi are witnessing a surge in deportations, arrests and detentions of Afghans, the UN says. It estimates that more than half of the three million Afghans in the country are undocumented.

Afghans describe a life of constant fear and near daily police raids on their homes.

Some told the BBC they feared being killed if they went back to Afghanistan. These include families on a US resettlement programme, that has been suspended by the Trump administration.

Pakistan is frustrated at how long relocation programmes are taking, says Philippa Candler, the UN Refugee Agency’s representative in Islamabad. The UN’s International Organization for Migration (IOM) says 930 people were sent back to Afghanistan in the first half of February, double the figure two weeks earlier. At least 20% of those deported from Islamabad and Rawalpindi had documentation from the UN Refugee Agency, meaning they were recognised as people in need of international protection.

But Pakistan is not a party to the Refugee Convention and has previously said it does not recognise Afghans living in the country as refugees. The government has said its policies are aimed at all illegal foreign nationals and a deadline for them to leave is looming. That date has fluctuated but is now set to 31 March for those without valid visas, and 30 June for those with resettlement letters.

Many Afghans are terrified amid the confusion. They also say the visa process can be difficult to navigate. Nabila’s family believes they have only one option: to hide. Her father Hamid served in the Afghan military, before the Taliban takeover in 2021. He broke down in tears describing his sleepless nights.

“I have served my country and now I’m useless. That job has doomed me,” he said.

His family are without visas, and are not on a resettlement list. They tell us their phone calls to the UN’s refugee agency go unanswered.

The BBC has reached out to the agency for comment.

The Taliban government has previously told the BBC all Afghans should return because they could “live in the country without any fear”. It claims these refugees are “economic migrants”.

But a UN report in 2023 cast doubt on assurances from the Taliban government. It found hundreds of former government officials and armed forces members were allegedly killed despite a general amnesty.

The Taliban government’s guarantees are of little reassurance to Nabila’s family so they choose to run when authorities are nearby. Neighbours offer each other shelter, as they all try to avoid retuning to Afghanistan.

The UN counted 1,245 Afghans being arrested or detained in January across Pakistan, more than double the same period last year.

Nabila says Afghans shouldn’t be forced out. “Don’t kick Afghans out of their homes – we’re not here by choice, we are forced to be here.”

There is a feeling of sadness and loneliness in their home. “I had a friend who was here and then was deported to Afghanistan,” Nabila’s mother Maryam says.

“She was like a sister, a mother. The day we were separated was a difficult day.”

I ask Nabila what she wants to do when she’s older. “Modelling,” she says, giving me a serious look. Everyone in the room smiles. The tension thaws.

Her mother whispers to her there are plenty of other things she could be, an engineer or a lawyer. Nabila’s dream of modelling is one she could never pursue under the Taliban government. With their restrictions on girls’ education, her mother’s suggestions would also prove impossible.

Pakistan has a long record of taking in Afghan refugees. But cross-border attacks have surged and stoked tension between the two neighbours. Pakistan blames them on militants based in Afghanistan, which the Taliban government denies. Since September 2023, the year Pakistan launched its “Illegal Foreigners’ Repatriation Plan,” 836,238 individuals have now been returned to Afghanistan.

Amidst this current phase of deportations, some Afghans are being held in the Haji camp in Islamabad. Ahmad was in the final stages of the United States’ resettlement programme. He tells us when President Donald Trump suspended it for review, he extinguished Ahmad’s “last hope”. The BBC has seen what appears to be his employment letter by a Western, Christian non-profit group in Afghanistan.

A few weeks ago, when he was out shopping, he received a call. His three-year-old daughter was on the line. “My baby called, come baba police is here, police come to our door,” he says. His wife’s visa extension was still pending, and she was busy pleading with the police.

Ahmad ran home. “I couldn’t leave them behind.” He says he sat in a van and waited hours as police continued their raids. The wives and children of his neighbours continued trickling into the vehicle. Ahmad began receiving calls from their husbands, begging him to take care of them. They had already escaped into the woods.

His family was held for three days in “unimaginable conditions”, says Ahmad, who claims they were only given one blanket per family, and one piece of bread per day, and that their phones were confiscated. The Pakistani government says it ensures “no one is mistreated or harassed during the repatriation process”.

We attempt to visit inside Haji camp to verify Ahmad’s account but are denied entry by authorities. The BBC approached the Pakistani government and the police for an interview or statement, but no one was made available.

Scared of being detained or deported, some families have chosen to leave Islamabad and Rawalpindi. Others tell us they simply can’t afford to.

One woman claims she was in the final stages of the US resettlement scheme and decided to move with her two daughters to Attock, 80km (50 miles) west of Islamabad. “I can barely afford bread,” she says.

The BBC has seen a document confirming she had an interview with the IOM in early January. She claims her family is still witnessing almost daily raids in her neighbourhood.

A spokesman for the US embassy in Islamabad has said it is in “close communication” with Pakistan’s government “on the status of Afghan nationals in the US resettlement pathways”.

Outside Haji camp’s gates, a woman is waiting. She tells us she has a valid visa but her sister’s has expired. Her sister is now being held inside the camp, along with her children. The officers would not let her visit her family, and she is terrified they will be deported. She begins weeping, “If my country was safe, why would I come here to Pakistan? And even here we cannot live peacefully.”

She points to her own daughter who is sitting in their car. She was a singer in Afghanistan, where a law states women cannot be heard speaking outside their home, let alone singing. I turn to her daughter and ask if she still sings. She stares. “No.”