No confirmation from India on Pakistan’s claim of downing 5 jets

No confirmation from India on Pakistan’s claim of downing 5 jets

Speaking from Indian-administered Kashmir, journalist Umar Meraj tells Al Jazeera there is no official comment from India on Pakistan’s claims that five Indian warplanes were downed overnight.

An unidentified aircraft fell on a school building on the outskirts of Srinagar, in Indian-administered Kashmir, Meraj said, adding that it is unknown if the aircraft crash-landed, as security forces have sealed off the area.

India’s foreign secretary says Pakistan has ‘well-deserved’ reputation as ‘haven for terrorists’

Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri has accused Pakistan of failing to act against “terrorist infrastructure” on its soil following the April 22 attack in Indian-administered Kashmir.

“Instead, all it has indulged in is denial and allegations,” Misri told a media briefing in New Delhi.

“Pakistan also has a well-deserved reputation as a haven for terrorists around the world,” he said.

Intelligence showed further attacks were ‘impending’ against India, foreign secretary says

Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri says intelligence indicated that “further attacks were impending” against India.

“There was thus the compulsion both to deter and to preempt,” Misri told a news conference in New Delhi.

Users say Pakistan has lifted block on accessing X

Social media users in Pakistan have said that they are able to access X again, suggesting the government of Pakistan has lifted a block on the platform.

Pakistan’s government had blocked access to X, previously known as Twitter, around the time of elections in February 2024, citing national security concerns.

Users had only been able to access X if they had access to a VPN, although several Pakistani officials took to the platform to announce Pakistan’s response to India’s attacks overnight.

Where is Muridke and why is it important?

Muridke is a city near Lahore in Pakistan’s Punjab region and one of the locations hit by India’s overnight missile strikes.

Members of the rebel group Lashkar-e-Taiba, one of the key targets of India’s Operation Sindoor, are said to be based in the city.

Lashkar-e-Taiba wants to see the entire Kashmir region administered by Pakistan and has been linked to the April 22 attack in Pahalgam, in Indian-administered Kashmir.

The group is a designated a “terrorist organisation” by countries such as the US, and it was previously implicated in the deadly 2008 attack on Mumbai.

India’s opposition leaders back attacks on Pakistan

India’s main opposition party, the Indian National Congress, has come out strongly in favour of the government’s attacks on Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

“Proud of our Armed Forces. Jai Hind!” Rahul Gandhi wrote on X.

Gandhi, the opposition leader in the Lok Sabha – the lower house of parliament – used a popular Hindi expression that can be translated as “Hail India!” or “Long live India!”

Mallikarjun Kharge, the opposition leader in the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of parliament, said his party was “extremely proud” of India’s armed forces.

“We applaud their resolute resolve and courage. Since the day of the Pahalgam Terror Attack, the Indian National Congress has categorically stood with the Armed Forces and the Government to take any decisive action against cross border terror,” Kharge said on X.

“National Unity and solidarity is the need of the hour and the Indian National Congress stands with our Armed Forces. Our leaders have shown the path in past, and National Interest is supreme for us.”

India-Pakistan should ‘stop ceasefire violations along the border’: Analyst

International Crisis Group’s Senior Analyst for India, Praveen Donthi, says that the “escalation between India and Pakistan has already reached a larger scale than during the last major crisis in 2019” with “potentially dire consequences”.

“Domestic emotions are high on both sides, fuelling the danger of further escalation,” he said, but “India and Pakistan should choose diplomacy, as any further military action carries unacceptable risks”.

“As a starting point, both sides should stop ceasefire violations along the border,” he added.

Other countries should also call on India and Pakistan to de-escalate, he said, including by initiating back-channel talks and preventing further tit-for-tat.

Why did India strike Pakistan? All we know about Operation Sindoor

Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir were rocked by multiple missile attacks by India early on Wednesday morning, in which at least eight people, including a three-year-old child, died.

India claimed that its operation, called Sindoor, targeted nine sites with “terrorist infrastructure”.

Pakistan scrambled its jets in response and claimed it had brought down five Indian planes – an assertion to which India has not yet responded.

The Indian attack came 15 days after the deadly attack on tourists in the picturesque Pahalgam town in Indian-administered Kashmir on April 22, for which India blamed armed groups which it claimed were backed by Pakistan. Islamabad denied any role in that attack.

Now, the nuclear-armed neighbours stand on the precipice of a full-blown military conflict.

Share price is up for top Indian and Chinese defence contractors

There’s been some froth today, but India’s top defence contractors have seen double-digit gains in their share prices over the past 30 days.

Stocks were already on an upswing at the start of April, but a major surge followed the April 22 attack in Indian-controlled Kashmir.

Companies include India’s top aerospace and defence contractor Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, as well as Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers, Bharat Electronics, and Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders.

The stock price for Paras Defence and Space Technologies, which manufactures drones among other weapons, is up 49 percent over the past 30 days.

China’s defence industry, which supplies Pakistan, has also seen gains today.

Shares for the fighter jet manufacturer Avic Chengdu Aircraft surged nearly 20 percent by midday following a strong performance over the past 30 days.

China’s composite CSI Defense Index was up more than 4 percent by midday.

The index, which includes China’s top 10 defence contractors, has risen more than 11 percent over the past month.

Indian politicians welcome strikes into Pakistani-controlled territory

Indian politicians from different political parties have lauded the strikes. “Victory to Mother India,” India’s Defence Minister Rajnath Singh wrote on X.

India’s main opposition Congress party called for national unity and said it was “extremely proud” of the country’s army. “We applaud their resolute resolve and courage,” Congress party President Mallikarjun Kharge said.

Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir says only ‘terrorist’ sites targeted in Pakistan

Omar Abdullah has defended India’s attacks, saying “only terrorist sites in Pakistan were targeted without affecting civilians or military areas.”

“Pakistan bombed civilian areas and targeted civilians; they started it, not us,” the chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir added.

“None of us want war, we want stability to return, but Pakistan must lower their weapons first.”

The comments come after Pakistan’s defence minister said all sites hit by India were civilian and not infrastructure of armed groups.

Pakistan puts death toll at 26

Pakistan’s military now says 26 people have been killed and 46 injured by India’s overnight attacks.

India reports at least eight people on its side have been killed from cross-border shelling from Pakistan.

Pakistan’s former foreign minister says India ‘playing with fire’

Hina Rabbani Khar has told Al Jazeera that India’s decision to launch missile attacks into another nuclearly armed state was “like playing with fire”.

“What it shows is that India thinks it has the impunity to be the judge, jury and executor,”  Rabbani Khar said. “It will send missiles into another nuclear-armed state because it seems to think that it can get away with it.”

The former minister said Pakistan had repeatedly warned the UN Security Council about India. “Warning signs were all over the place and now it has just upped the ante,” she said.

Rabbani Khar spoke to Al Jazeera from Qatar’s Doha airport, where she remained unable to travel to Pakistan because of the flight disruptions following India’s strikes. She described the attack as “unprovoked, unsubstantiated and clearly against international law”.

Fear and panic as missiles, shells fall through the night

Residents in Pakistan-administered Kashmir say they experienced a night of fear and panic as Indian missiles caused loud explosions and blackouts.

Heavy shelling also continued into the morning across the Line of Control, catching more people in the crosshairs on both sides.