Pakistan strikes India in response to missiles drawn against Islamabad – Liberation

Calls to « An immediate de -escalation » G7 and United States member countries remain a dead letter for the time being. Pakistan struck India this Saturday, May 10, in the morning after New Delhi, pulled missiles on Pakistani air bases, in one of the worst confrontations between the two nuclear powers which has already made fifty civilian deaths.

American diplomacy Marco Rubio urged the two countries to « Restore direct communication to avoid any calculation error », said the spokesperson for the State Department, Tammy Bruce. China has also called « firmly » Avoid climbing conflict.

According to Pakistani security sources, their army launched a response against India this Saturday after New Delhi had targeted in the night of the Pakistani air bases, including one at the gates of Islamabad. AFP journalists heard explosions on Saturday morning in the city of Srinagar, in the Indian part of Cashmere that the two countries compete.

The Indian army confirmed this Saturday that it was again attacked by Islamabad, in particular by drones, in several points along its western border. She denounced « The obvious escalation of Pakistan ». Before dawn this Saturday, two explosions had resounded in Islamabad and Rawalpindi, the nearby town where the staff and intelligence services are located.

The spokesman for the Pakistani army then appeared on state television to announce that « India (had) attacked with missiles (…) the bases of Nour Khan, Mourid and Chorkot were targeted ».

Wednesday, India had struck the Pakistani territoryin retaliation for An attack committed on April 22 in Indian cashmere. This attack which killed 26 civilians was not claimed but New Delhi accuses Islamabad despite his denials.

Since then, missile strikes, artillery fire and drone attacks follow one another while the two rivals since their painful partition in 1947, all calls for appeasement.

For its part, the G7 warned in a press release against «  »The continuation of military escalation (which) constitutes a serious threat to regional stability ”. The group urged the two opponents « To undertake a direct dialogue for a peaceful outcome ».

Faced with this escalation, The US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, immediately called the Pakistani army chief Asim Mounir. He « Continued to urge the two parties to find ways to arrive at an de-escalation and proposed the assistance of the United States to start constructive discussions to avoid future conflicts », According to a statement from the State Department.

After visiting Iranian diplomacy in Islamabad and New Delhi, the head of Saudi diplomacy, Adel al-Jubeir, has also tried mediation by going to the two countries in recent days.

Pakistani airspace will be closed « Until Sunday at 7 am GMT », Or 9 am in Paris, the Pakistani Aviation Authority for aviation. New Delhi had claimed in recent days that it had been the target of a wave of Pakistani drone attacks in Kashmir and Penjab, a border state in the northwest. What the two camps say is impossible to verify an independent source, in particular because many areas are inaccessible.

India has closed 24 airports And local media claim that air traffic will be suspended until next week. The Crisis Group International Reflection Center (ICG) was worried about « Bellicose rhetoric, inner agitation and the boutish logic of overbidding ».

Tens of millions of children are also deprived of school on both sides of the border. India has ordered social network X to block more than 8,000 accounts, including those of international media. Elon Musk’s network said he had contacted it as a result, denouncing a « censorship ». New Delhi had already demanded the ban on several accounts of political figures, celebrities or Pakistani media.