Reuters
Pakistan's defence minister said on Saturday that no meeting of the top military and civil body overseeing the country's nuclear arsenal had been scheduled following a military operation against India earlier in the day.
Pakistan's military said earlier that the prime minister had called on the authority to meet. The information minister did not respond immediately to a request for comment.
The worst fighting between the nuclear-armed rivals since 1999 has killed dozens of people on both sides and led to repeated calls for de-escalation from the United States and the G7 group of rich countries.
"This thing that you have spoken about (nuclear option) is present, but let's not talk about it - we should treat it as a very distant possibility, we shouldn't even discuss it in the immediate context," Pakistan Defence Minister Khawaja Asif told ARY TV.
"Before we get to that point, I think temperatures will come down. No meeting has happened of the National Command Authority, nor is any such meeting scheduled."
The Guardian
India and Pakistan have accused each other of cross-border missile strikes against major military targets, the most significant escalation so far in the brewing conflict between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.
On Saturday, India accused Pakistan of launching strikes on dozens of airbases and military headquarters across north India, using long-range weapons, drones and fighter aircraft. The accusations came a few hours after Pakistan said India had fired six surface-to-air missiles targeting three of Pakistan’s most important military bases early on Saturday morning.
Shortly afterwards, Pakistan officials confirmed they had begun their counter-attack against India, under the name Operation Bunyan Ul Marsoos, a phrase from the Qur’an roughly translating to “wall of lead”.
The claims of missile attacks on military targets deep inside India and Pakistan were seen as a worrying escalation in hostilities, bringing the two countries the closest they have been to war in decades.
According to the Indian army spokesperson Col Sofiya Qureshi, Pakistan struck first on Saturday. At a press conference, the Indian army accused Pakistan of attacking 26 sites in India, including the Pathankot military airfield in Punjab, Srinagar airport and Udhampur air force base in Indian-administered Kashmir, as well as “deplorable and cowardly” attacks on civilian infrastructure.
Qureshi said the “Indian Armed Forces successfully neutralised these threats” but added that some damage was done to equipment and personnel at four airbases. The foreign secretary, Vikram Misri, said claims by Pakistani media that airbases and advanced weapons systems had been destroyed in the strikes were “heavy on lies, misinformation and propaganda”.
Pakistan and India’s military right now: