Pakistan's Defence Minister said on Monday that an Indian military strike seemed imminent, after last week's terrorist attack on Kashmiri tourists killed dozens and heightened tensions further between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.
The assault, which killed 26 people, outraged much of India and called for a stern retaliation against Pakistan. New Delhi accused Islamabad of harboring the perpetrators of the April 22 attack — the bloodiest against civilians in years. Pakistan categorically denied the allegations.
"We have enhanced our forces because it is something which is overdue now. So in that scenario, some strategic decisions have to be made, so those decisions have been made," Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif said in an interview in his office in Islamabad.
Asif confirmed that the army had warned the government of the threat of an Indian invasion. He refused to reveal the intelligence behind the threat and said nothing of when the intelligence was received.
He reiterated that Pakistan remained on high alert and said its nuclear capacity would only be utilized "if there is a direct threat to our existence."
The terror assault prompted a massive manhunt by Indian authorities, who subsequently revealed two of the terrorists to be Pakistani nationals. Islamabad denied participation and requested an independent, unbiased investigation into the attack.
India reacted to the assault with multiple measures against Pakistan: it lowered diplomatic relations, suspended the Indus Waters Treaty, closed the principal land border crossing, and canceled visas for Pakistani citizens.
Acting simultaneously, Pakistan expelled Indian diplomats and military personnel, cancelled visas granted to Indian nationals, and shut airspaces to Indian planes.
In addition today, India applied access restrictions to more than a dozen Pakistani YouTube channels on the basis of dissemination of "provocative" content. Included in the ones banned on that list are YouTube channels operated by mainstream Pakistani news channels like Dawn, Samaa TV, ARY News, Bol News, Raftar, Geo News, and Suno News.
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