Delhi govt cancels leaves of employees amid India-Pakistan tensions

An order stated no leave will be granted to any official of Delhi govt till further orders given the prevailing situation and preparedness for any emergency.

Updated on: May 8, 2025, 23:45:53 IST

By HT News Desk

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Delhi government cancelled leave of employees in view of prevailing situation and preparedness for emergency response amid rising tensions between India and Pakistan, according to an order cited by PTI news agency on Thursday evening.

A Blackout at Statesman House, as part of the mock drill ordered by the MHA, in New Delhi on Wednesday. (ANI)

While all schools, colleges and universities were declared closed in Punjab for three days and in Haryana's Panchkula as well, an order for school closure in Gurugram was expected but has not been issued yet.

The order issued late evening by the Services Department of the government stated that no leave will be granted to any official of Delhi government till further orders given the prevailing situation and preparedness for any emergency.

All district magistrates in the national capital are holding meetings with their subordinates to review health and disaster management preparedness in case of any emergency situation, officials said.

India-Pak tensions

Tensions between India and Pakistan reached an all-time high in years on Thursday evening after a suspected Pakistani drone attack reported from parts of Jammu, Punjab and Rajasthan was thwarted by the Indian defence systems, prompting blackout enforcement, air raid sirens in the affected cities and suspension of the Indian Premiere League (IPL) match in Himachal Pradesh's Dharamshala midway.

It started with a suspected Pakistani drone attack that was thwarted by the Indian air defence system in parts of Jammu on Thursday evening, and expanded to explosions being heard in some areas of Punjab and sensitive areas of Rajasthan as well. All of this comes a day after ‘Operation Sindoor’ military strikes carried out by New Delhi on terror infrastructures in Islamabad, in response to the April 22 Pahalgam terrorist attack.

India struck Pakistan's air defence systems early Thursday morning in response to a wave of drone and missile attacks launched by Pakistan against Indian military installations the previous night.

On Wednesday, India launched military strikes under ‘Operation Sindoor’, targeting terror infrastructures in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) in response to the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack which killed 26 people, all civilians.

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