Modi cancels Europe trip, meets with cabinet

Modi cancels Europe trip, meets with cabinet

Neha Poonia, reporting from New Delhi, India

India has defended its strikes, calling them non-escalatory, proportionate and responsible. India is also maintaining that, contrary to what Pakistan is claiming, no civilians were targeted – that it simply targeted terror camps.

We are now seeing more developments. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has reportedly cancelled his upcoming trip to Europe on account of the heightened tensions. He’s also holding a senior-level cabinet meeting to discuss security matters.

We’ve also heard more about the situation on the ground in India-administered Kashmir, where people have been killed in cross-border fire overnight. People in border villages say it’s been a heavy night of shelling. Many have left their homes. Others have resorted to using bunkers that have been inoperational for the last few years.

More air travel disruptions as tensions spiral between India and Pakistan

Air India has cancelled flights to and from Jammu, Srinagar, Leh, Jodhpur, Amritsar, Bhuj, Jamnagar, Chandigarh and Rajkot due to the closure of airports following the tensions with Pakistan.

India’s flagship carrier said flights would be suspended until May 10.

According to local Malaysian outlet The Star, Malaysia’s flagship carrier has cancelled flights to Amritsar, India.

“We will continue to take all necessary measures to ensure safe and reliable operations,” the airline was quoted as saying to The Star, adding that this cancellation will remain in effect until at least May 9.

Malaysia Airlines also said it had rerouted two long-haul flights after the closure of Pakistan’s airspace.

Meanwhile, Indonesia’s Batik Air says in a statement that it had cancelled several flights to and from Lahore, Pakistan, and Amritsar, India, due to ongoing airspace restrictions arising from heightened tensions between India and Pakistan.

Qatar, UAE call on India and Pakistan to avoid military escalation

Qatar has said it “follows with great concern the continuing escalation between India and Pakistan” and called for “resolving the crisis through diplomatic channels”.

The deputy prime minister of the United Arab Emirates, Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, called for “restraint” and urged the avoidance of military escalation.

Pakistani PM chairing security meeting, expected to address the nation

Kamal Hyder, Reporting from Islamabad, Pakistan

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is chairing a high-level meeting of the National Security Committee and is likely to address the nation after that.

In a little while, the TV networks will also be airing the funerals of those killed in last night’s attacks.

We’ve also heard from Pakistani Defence Ministry spokesman Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, who said that the Pakistani aircraft that attacked the Indian aircraft never crossed into Indian airspace but instead used BVR, or beyond-visual-range missiles.

Where did India hit Pakistan? Mapping Operation Sindoor and border strikes

Just after midnight on Wednesday, India’s army launched Operation Sindoor, hitting nine sites it described as “terrorist infrastructure” in Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

Pakistan’s armed forces said India’s military attacked six different places in Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir, launching 24 strikes, killing at least 26 people and wounding more than 35.

Since then, heavy shelling has taken place across the Line of Control between India and Pakistan.

Residents of Pakistani Kashmir recount fleeing into hills during Indian attacks

Residents of Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan-administered Kashmir, said they fled their homes and ran into surrounding hills as India launched air attacks on part of the city.

“The whole house moved. Everyone got scared, we all evacuated, took our kids and went up (the hills),” Muhammad Shair Mir, 46, told Reuters.

He added that his family spent four hours in the open. Some of his neighbours had gone to hospital with injuries and the remainder were shaken.

Many people gathered after sunrise near a mosque that had been hit in the attacks, its roof smashed and minaret toppled, the news agency reported. Security forces had cordoned off the area.

“This is wrong … Poor innocent people, our poor mothers are sick, our sisters are sick … our houses were rattled, our walls have cracked,” the resident said.

Police in Indian-administered Kashmir said at least 10 people were killed and nearly 50 wounded there.

Pakistan’s National Security Committee says India ‘ignited an inferno’

Pakistan’s National Security Committee (NSC) has said India “has once again ignited an inferno in the region” and called on the international community to recognise the gravity of its “unprovoked illegal actions and to hold it accountable for its blatant violations of international norms and laws”.

In a statement released after a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, the NSC said India’s “unjustified attacks deliberately targeted the civilian areas, on the false pretext of presence of imaginary terrorist camps”, and caused “grave danger to commercial airlines”.

“The responsibility for ensuing consequences shall lie squarely with India,” it said.

UK says ‘ready to support’ India, Pakistan amid tensions

The UK has offered to play a diplomatic role in the India-Pakistan conflict, calling both countries a “friend” and “partner”.

“We stand ready to support both countries,” UK Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds told BBC Radio.

“Both have a huge interest in regional stability, in dialogue, in de-escalation and anything we can do to support that, we are here and willing to do.”

India’s cricket coach calls to halt matches with Pakistan

India’s national cricket team head coach, Gautam Gambhir, has said India should stop playing Pakistan entirely, as tensions between the two nations escalate.

“My personal answer to this is absolutely no,” Gambhir said yesterday, hours before India conducted air attacks on its neighbour. “‘Till all this (stops), there should not be anything between India and Pakistan.”

He added that the final decision about national cricket matches lies with the government and that he would respect whatever it decides.

While two-way cricket between India and Pakistan has been suspended since 2013, they still play each other in multiteam tournaments, mostly in neutral venues.

Any match between the archrivals remains a cricketing blockbuster and is declared sold out within hours after tickets go on sale. India has dominated the rivalry in recent years, but emotions still run high on either side of the border.

Qatar’s PM holds phone call with India’s foreign minister

Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani has spoken with India’s foreign minister, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, and expressed Doha’s concern over the mounting tensions with Pakistan.

Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on X that Sheikh Mohammed, who is the Gulf state’s prime minister and foreign minister, reaffirmed Doha’s commitment to help find a concerted solution through dialogue and peaceful means.

India’s top airline cancels 165 flights

IndiGo, India’s leading airline, has announced it has called off 165 flights from 11 locations due to the clashes.

The cancelled flights include those scheduled in Srinagar, the capital of Indian-administered Kashmir.

IndiGo, which operates more than 2,200 flights daily, is among the worst-affected airlines due to the flare-up in violence, with its shares dropping as much as 3.1 percent.

Turkiye condemns Indian attack, says it ‘created risk of all-out war’

Turkiye’s Foreign Ministry has denounced India’s overnight attacks on Pakistan, claiming they targeted civilians and civilian infrastructure.

In a statement, the ministry warned the “provocative steps” have opened the door to “all-out war”.

It also called on all parties to act sensibly and said it hopes steps would be taken to reduce tensions as soon as possible.

Indian strike wrecks mosque in Pakistan-administered Kashmir

As we’ve reported, one of India’s overnight aerial attacks damaged a mosque in Muzaffarabad in Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

A resident of the city told Al Jazeera the attack caused panic, pushing people to flee into the mountains for hours.

‘Nuclear exchange between India and Pakistan would cause millions of immediate deaths’

The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) says it is “gravely concerned” at the escalation of fighting between India and Pakistan.

“A nuclear exchange between India and Pakistan would cause millions of immediate deaths in the region and have global consequences,” said Melissa Parke, executive director of ICAN, which was awarded the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize.

Warning of a “nuclear winter” that could drastically disrupt agriculture worldwide with catastrophic consequences, Parker urged both governments to show restraint and de-escalate and called on the international community to redouble efforts towards disarmament.

“The only way to guarantee these weapons are never used is to ban and eliminate them.”