US Vice President JD Vance called on Pakistan to cooperate with India to make sure those responsible are “hunted down and dealt with” as South Asia teeters on the edge of dangerous escalation.
ISLAMABAD — The Pakistan Army conducted full-scale military exercises amid rising tensions with India, according to state-run media.
The war exercises include a “practical demonstration of modern weaponry given war strategy, where officers and soldiers actively showcase their professional capabilities during the drills,” Radio Pakistan reported on Thursday, citing security sources.
“The primary objective of these war exercises is to deliver a strong and decisive response to any aggression from the enemy,” said the state-owned radio station.
Security sources told the radio that the drills are taking place in Sialkot, Narowal, and Zafarwal areas of northeastern Punjab province, near the “working boundary” with India.
A flash point
Pakistan’s top envoy to the US has urged President Donald Trump to help ease tensions with India, according to a media report.
In an interview with Newsweek magazine, Pakistan’s ambassador in Washington, Rizwan Saeed Sheikh, described the Kashmir issue as a “flash point” and said Pakistan needs peaceful neighbourhood relations with India.
“If we have a president who is standing for peace in the world as a pronounced objective during this administration, to establish a legacy as a peacemaker or as someone who finished wars, defied wars and played a role in de-confliction, resolving the disputes, I don’t think there is any higher or flashier flashpoint, particularly in nuclear terms, as Kashmir,” Sheikh told the magazine.
Two heatwaves
The government of Pakistan-administered Kashmir has closed all religious seminaries in the region for 10 days, officials said, citing fears they would be targeted by Indian strikes.
Islamabad says it has credible intelligence that India intends to launch military action soon, with New Delhi alleging that the attack on tourists was carried out by Pakistani nationals with ties to Islamist organisations based there.
The director of Pakistani Kashmir’s Department of Religious Affairs, Hafiz Nazir Ahmad, told Reuters that security officials feared Indian forces may target seminaries and label them as ‘militant training centres’.
The notification seen by Reuters, dated April 30, only cited a heatwave as the reason for the closure.
“Right now, we are facing two kinds of heat — one from the weather and the other from (Indian Prime Minister) Modi,” Ahmad said of the notification, saying they did not mention the risk of attacks in a bid to avoid panic.
US urges India to avoid broader conflict
US Vice President JD Vance has said that Washington hopes that India’s response to the recent attack in India-administered Kashmir does not lead to a broader regional conflict.
He said that the US wanted to avoid seeing a wider regional conflict.
“Our hope here is that India responds to this terrorist attack in a way that doesn’t lead to a broader regional conflict,” Vance said in an interview on Fox News‘ “Special Report with Bret Baier” show.
Vance said that Washington hoped Pakistan would cooperate with India to hunt down those responsible for the attack.
“And we hope, frankly, that Pakistan, to the extent that they’re responsible, cooperates with India to make sure that the terrorists sometimes operating in their territory are hunted down and dealt with. That’s how we hope this unfolds. We’re obviously in close contact. We’ll see what happens.”
The development comes a day after the Pakistan Army conducted full-scale military exercises amid rising tensions with India, according to state-run media.
Relations between India and Pakistan plunge to their lowest level in years. India has accused Pakistan of supporting “cross-border terrorism” after gunmen carried out the worst attack on tourists in New Delhi-administered Kashmir, killing 26.
Islamabad has denied any involvement, calling attempts to link Pakistan to the attack “frivolous” and vowed to respond to any Indian action.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio called for de-escalation of tensions in South Asia on Wednesday.
The United Nations has also urged the two countries to show “maximum restraint” so that issues can be “resolved peacefully through meaningful mutual engagement”.
c.TRT Global
