India launched a military operation on Pakistan in the early hours of yesterday morning, and Pakistan claimed it shot down five Indian Air Force jets in response, in a major escalation between the South Asian neighbors and in response to April’s massacre on civilians in Indian-administered Kashmir.
India said it targeted “terrorist infrastructure” belonging to two militant groups – Lashkar-e-Tayyiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM). At a press conference, officials showed a map marking locations of what they said were several training camps in Pakistan-administered Kashmir and inside Pakistan’s Punjab province. Indian foreign secretary Vikram Misri again blamed Pakistan for the April attack and accused Islamabad of supporting “terrorism” in the disputed region, which the neighbor has denied.
Masood Azhar, the leader of JeM, said 10 of his relatives, including five children, were killed by the attack. JeM, which translates to the Army of the Prophet Mohammed, is a Pakistan-based group that operates across Kashmir, and seeks to unite the Indian-administered area of the disputed state with Pakistan. While the US and the UN Security Council listed JeM as a terrorist organization in 2001, an effort to include its leader, Masood Azhar, as an “internationally designated terrorist” was vetoed by China.
Here’s what else you need to know:
Pakistan’s message: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif tasked his country’s military to enact “self-defense” with “corresponding actions,” according to his office. He lauded his country’s air force following a claim by military sources that it shot down five Indian fighter jets. Pakistan’s defense minister cautioned that Islamabad is “trying to avoid” a full-fledged war. Pakistan will only hit military targets in India, not civilian, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said.
India’s message: India is urging other countries, including the US, to tell Pakistan to stop supporting terrorism, an official government source said. Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said “the world must show zero tolerance for terrorism.” Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has not spoken publicly since the strikes, chaired a high-level meeting with senior ministers.
Downed jets: A high-ranking French intelligence official told CNN that Pakistan downed one Rafale fighter jet operated by the Indian Air Force (IAF), in what would mark the first time that one of the sophisticated French-made warplanes has been lost in combat. Pakistan had claimed to have shot down five IAF jets in retaliation for Indian strikes, including three Rafales. Indian officials are yet to respond to the claim.
Casualties: The death toll in Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir has risen to 31, with 57 injured, a military official said. Meanwhile, overnight shelling by the Pakistani military on the Indian side of the Line of Control in Kashmir killed 12 civilians and injured 57, an Indian defense source told CNN. India and Pakistan have had near daily exchanges of fire across the Line of Control since the April massacre.
People flee and evacuate on both sides of the border: Authorities in Indian-administered Kashmir ordered the evacuation of citizens from areas they deemed dangerous. Residents of Pakistan-administered Kashmir said they were forced to flee their homes and take shelter after India launched missile strikes. Meanwhile, authorities across all Indian states and territories conducted pre-planned civil defense security drills following an order from the home ministry not seen in decades.
