Imran Khan asks Pak to be ready for 'all eventualities' after India strikes

India said its fighter jets destroyed a major terrorist camp in Pakistan in the worst escalation between the nuclear-armed rivals since 2001, in an incident that Islamabad has described as a "grave aggression."

More than 300 people were killed in the air strikes at the camp belonging to terrorist group Jaish-e-Mohammed that has trained suicide bombers, according to an Indian official speaking on condition of anonymity.

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has directed the armed forces and citizens to "remain prepared for all eventualities."

A statement released from his office today notes Pakistan would respond "at the time and place of its choosing," and rejects India’s claim that it had hit a terror camp or inflicted heavy casualties. "Once again the Indian government has resorted to a self-serving, reckless and fictitious claim," according to the statement.

Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale said India carried out the strikes in Pakistan following an attack in Kashmir earlier this month in response to intelligence that indicated Jaish-e-Mohammed was planning more attacks.

"In the face of imminent danger, a preemptive strike became absolutely necessary," Gokhale said in New Delhi. "A very large number of JeM terrorists, trainers, senior commanders and groups of jihadis who were being trained for fidayeen action were eliminated."

INTERNATIONAL REACTION

Good Indo-Pak relations important: China 
 

China on Tuesday urged India and Pakistan to “exercise restraint” and asked New Delhi to carry out its fight against terrorism through international cooperation. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said, “India and Pakistan are important countries in South Asia. A sound relationship between the two serves the interests of both,” he said. 

EU urges ‘maximum restraint’ 
 

The EU on Tuesday called on New Delhi and Islamabad to exercise “maximum restraint” after Indian warplanes attacked a militant camp in Pakistan. “We remain in contact with both countries and we believe exercising maximum restraint is essential to avoid escalation of tension,” EU spokeswoman Maja Kocijancic said. 

UK asks India, Pak to find diplomatic solutions 
 

The British government has called on India and Pakistan to pursue diplomatic solutions following the IAF’s strikes. UK Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt held telephonic conversations with External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office said. 

Coveted Region

Pakistan claims Indian jets intruded across the line of administrative control. India’s benchmark stock index S&P BSE Sensex fell 0.7 percent at close in Mumbai, recovering from a 1.4 percent drop. Across the border Pakistan’s main measure plunged 1.9 percent, the most since Dec. 6. India’s rupee was little changed at 71.03 to a dollar at 3:44 p.m. in Mumbai.

Photo: Bloomberg

"The last time the Indian Air Force crossed the line of control intentionally and publicly to conduct air strikes was 1971," Vipin Narang, an associate professor of political science at MIT said via email, referring to the last Indo-Pakistan war.

Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said at a televised news conference in Islamabad that India violated the line of control. "India has committed aggression against Pakistan today -- I will call it a grave aggression," Qureshi said.

Tense Relations

Relations between the historic arch-rivals has been extremely tense since a suicide car bombing, claimed by the Pakistan-based terrorist group Jaish-e-Mohammed, on Feb. 14 in Kashmir killed 40 members of India’s security forces. Jaish-e-Mohammed is a United Nations designated terrorist group.

It’s the worst escalation since 2001, when Pakistan and India moved ballistic missiles and troops to their border following an attack on parliament in New Delhi that was also blamed on Jaish-e-Mohammad. India and Pakistan have fought three wars since partition and independence in 1947.

"This is the first time that India has crossed the line of control and from the looks of it, the international border," said G. Parthasarathy, the former Indian High Commissioner in Pakistan. "In 2001, we had deployed the army on our borders but there was no military action."

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who faces a general election in the coming months, is under enormous pressure after blaming Pakistan for the worst attack on security forces in Kashmir in several decades, and markets reacted after Modi pledged a “befitting reply.”

Islamabad has denied any role in the Feb. 14 attack. Khan vowed to retaliate against India in a televised speech on Feb. 19 if New Delhi launched any sort of military response. Pakistan’s army chief, General Qamar Javed Bajwa, in the past few days visited troops along the “Line of Control” to see their preparedness, according to the military media wing Inter-Services Public Relations.

Indian Air Force planes entered Pakistan at 2:55 a.m. local time on Tuesday for three minutes, according to minister Qureshi. Indian officials said they had deployed 10 aircraft for the mission.

"My gut tells me there will be some form of escalation," Kamran Bokhari, director of Strategy and Programs at Center for Global Policy with the University of Ottawa said by phone. "There is no way Pakistan will not combat. Pakistan will have to strike back. I am not saying this will lead to an all out war but I don’t see that it’s over."

Spy Agency

The Indian Army said on earlier on Feb. 19 that it had killed a Jaish-e-Mohammed leader in Kashmir who was a Pakistani national with links to that country’s Inter-Services Intelligence, or ISI, the main spy agency for the government in Islamabad.

Modi had previously said the country’s defense forces have been given the freedom to respond.

Both India and the U.S. see Pakistan as providing safe haven for terrorist groups and point to the fact that the leadership of groups such as Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Taiba, which carried out the Mumbai attacks in 2008, still live freely in Pakistan.