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