Pakistan's Defense Minister Khawaja Asif has warned that rising tensions with India could spiral into a nuclear conflict. Speaking to Al Jazeera, Asif urged the international community to pay attention to what he called a dangerously volatile situation between the two nuclear-armed neighbors.
"This is a serious conflict that could escalate into a nuclear confrontation. The world needs to take this threat seriously,” he said.
His comments came after a deadly terrorist attack on April 22 in Pahalgam, a tourist town in India’s Jammu and Kashmir region. The assault left 25 Indian civilians and one Nepali dead, with many others injured. Indian authorities believe the attackers had ties to Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and were members of Lashkar-e-Taiba (banned in Russia) according to The Hindustan Times.
In response, India expelled several Pakistani military advisors, sharply reduced its embassy staff in Islamabad, shut down a major border crossing at Attari, suspended a key water-sharing treaty, and halted visa services for Pakistani citizens.
Pakistan, in turn, announced it was suspending all bilateral agreements with India. It also warned that any attempt by India to divert the flow of the Indus River would be seen as an act of war. The Pakistani government closed its airspace to Indian aircraft, shut the Wagah border crossing, and expelled Indian defense and military advisors.
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Photo: Kuhlmann/MSC/Creative Commons 3.0
Based on materials from TASS