Indian Prime Minister has reportedly authorized his country’s armed forces to respond to a deadly attack in last week in whatever way they see fit, as tensions with neighboring remain high.
Modi met with Defense Minister Rajnath Singh, his national security advisor and senior generals at his private residence on Tuesday where, according to government sources who have spoken to the Reuters and AFP news agencies, he gave the military chiefs “complete operational freedom to decide on the mode, targets and timing of our response to the terror attack.”
blames the attack, which saw last week in Pahalgam, on Pakistan, which it accuses of funding and encouraging Islamist militancy in the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir.
Islamabad denies the allegation, insisting it merely provides moral and diplomatic support for self-determination for Muslim-majority Kashmir, and has called for an independent investigation into the attack.
Meanwhile, between Indian and Pakistani troops continued for a fifth day, with the Indian army saying it had responded to “unprovoked small arms fire” from multiple Pakistani positions overnight.
Pakistan’s military did not confirm the shooting, which is not believed to have resulted in any casualties, but state radio reported on Tuesday that an Indian drone had been shot down.
New Delhi is yet to comment, but Indian officials have claimed to have identified attempts by Pakistan-based hackers to infiltrate websites associated with the Indian military, according to Reuters sources.
Kashmir civilians bolster bunkers, tourist sites closed
Already caught in the between the two nuclear-armed neighbors for decades, local residents in Kashmir have begun fortifying their basic underground bunkers.
“We’ve endured cross-border firing, which has been a tough experience, and we don’t want our children to go through the same,” Awan, a 51-year-old farmer, told the AFP news agency as he and his children cleared a bunker which they normally use to store straw.
In the village of Chakothi, around three kilometers (two miles) from the Line of Control, the de facto Kashmir border, Awan and his cousin Shabbir are preparing a bunker they built in 2017 at a cost of around 300,000 Pakistani rupees ($1,000) – a significant amount in the impoverished region.
“Every day, India makes various threats, saying they will do this and that,” said 52-year-old retired soldier Shabbir. “That is why we are cleaning these bunkers today, so that if needed, we can use them and make our lives safer.”
The bunkers, built into the Himalayan mountains, measure around 2.5 meters deep, 3.5 meters wide and 3.5 meters long (eight by ten by ten foot). Some are reinforced with concrete. Those who can’t afford that simply use mud walls.
“Our main concern is the safety of our children,” said Saleema Bibi, a 40-year-old mother of four. “Protecting them is our biggest priority.”
In addition to farming, many locals rely heavily on the tourism industry in the picturesque region, but local authorities have closed 48 of the 87 main tourist destinations, according to a government document seen by Reuters.
UK calls for calm among British Indians and Pakistanis
Ordinary Pakistanis, Indians and Kashmiris are feeling the effects of the far beyond the Himalayas in global diasporas, too.
Some of the biggest Indian and Pakistani communities are found in the , which directly ruled over modern-day India and Pakistan for almost a century between 1858 and 1947, with the presence of on the sub-continent dating back to the seventeenth century.
The in 1947 and the establishment of Hindu-majority India and Muslim-majority Pakistan violently displaced millions of people along religious lines, sowing the animosity that endures to this day.
Indian and Pakistani communities have often lived peacefully side-by-side in the United Kingdom for generations but British lawmakers have voiced concerns that tensions could spill into the diaspora.
“India and Pakistan have engaged in large-scale military hostilities in the past in this region and there’s a real risk that the nations could revert to military conflict again,” warned Gurinder Singh Josan, a lawmaker for the ruling social-democratic , in parliament on Tuesday.
“We are playing our role to ensure the tensions do not escalate,” responded foreign office minister Hamish Falconer. “Many of us are familiar with the tense and storied history between the two countries, we are friends to them both and we do not want to see uncontrolled escalation in tensions.”
He added: “These issues have long been discussed with passion on British streets and we call on sides, all community leaders, all involved to call for calm at a time of tension in the region.”
Edited by: Jenipher Camino Gonzalez
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