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'India's military action on way, our forces reinforced': Pakistan's big claim
Asif said Pakistan was on high alert and that it would only use its arsenal of nuclear weapons if "there is a direct threat to our existence".
Pakistan's defence minister, Khawaja Muhammad Asif, claimed on Monday that a military incursion by India was imminent in the aftermath of a deadly terror attack on tourists in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam last week.
Tensions have been high between the two nuclear-armed nations since the attack that killed 26 people and triggered outrage in the country. There have been several calls for action against Pakistan.
"We have reinforced our forces because it is something which is imminent now. So in that situation, some strategic decisions have to be taken, so those decisions have been taken," Asif told Reuters in an interview at his office in Islamabad.
Asif said India's rhetoric was ramping up and that Pakistan's military had briefed the government on the possibility of an Indian attack. He did not go into further details on his reasons for thinking an incursion was imminent.
After the Pahalgam attack last week, the investigation pointed out two suspected terrorists as Pakistani. Islamabad has denied any role and called for a neutral investigation.
Asif said Pakistan was on high alert and that it would only use its arsenal of nuclear weapons if "there is a direct threat to our existence".
Shahbaz Sharif's neutral probe call
In the backdrop of the rising tensions over the Pahalgam terror incident, Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Saturday said that Islamabad is ready for a “neutral investigation” into the Pahalgam terror attack.
Addressing a ceremony at a military academy in Abbottabad, Sharif said, “Pakistan is open to participating in any neutral, transparent and credible investigation.” The call was slammed by J&K CM Omar Abdullah.
However, he also asserted that Pakistani forces remain "fully capable and prepared to defend the country's sovereignty and its territorial integrity against any misadventure as clearly demonstrated by its measured yet resolute response to India's reckless incursion in February 2019".
