Pakistan’s Information Minister has said that the country where India intends to launch a military strike within the next 24-36 hours has “reliable information”.
Attaura Talar’s comments came after he accused India of supporting the militants behind the Indian-controlled attacks in Kashmir that killed 26 tourists last week. Islamabad refuses the claim.
Tarar said India intends to use the attack as a “false pretext” for strikes, and “this military adventurism by India will certainly and decisively respond.”
The BBC contacted the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of India for comment.
The attack near Pahargam’s tourist streets was the most deadly attack on civilians in 20 years in conflict zones. Both India and Pakistan claimed the region and fought two wars over it.
Armies from both sides have replaced the recent intermittent small arm fires across the border.
There was speculation about whether India would respond with a military strike against Pakistan, as was the case after the fatal militant attacks in 2019 and 2016.
Authorities said last week they were conducting extensive searches in India-controlled Kashmir and detained more than 1,500 people for questions. More people have been in custody since then, but the numbers are unknown.
Authorities have destroyed homes of at least 10 militants. At least one is reportedly linked to the suspect named in the shooting.
Kashmir, which India and Pakistan claims in full, but only partially, has been a flash point between two nuclear-armed states since its division in 1947.
Controlled by India, Kashmir has seen armed rebellions against Indian rule since 1989, with extremists targeting security forces and civilians.
India has not named it the group suspected of attacking in Pahargam, but it remains unknown who did it. A little-known group called The Resistance Front was reportedly claiming that they first carried out the shooting and issued a statement denying their involvement. The front is reportedly affiliated with Rashkar Aetaiba, a Pakistan-based extremist group.
Indian police have appointed three of the four suspected attackers. They said that two are Pakistani nationals and one is a local man from India-controlled Kashmir. There is no information about the fourth man.
Many survivors said the gunmen targeted particularly Hindu men.
The attack sparked widespread rage in India, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi publicly saying that the country hunted suspects “to the end of the earth” and those who planned and carried them will be “punished beyond imagination.”
