One week after a terrorist attack in Indian-administered Kashmir killed 26 people, 25 of them tourists, tensions between nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan have sharply escalated, fuelling fears of an imminent military confrontation.
On Tuesday, 29 April 2025, the Pakistani government announced it had obtained “credible intelligence” indicating that India planned to launch military action in retaliation for the 22 April attack.
Indian officials have blamed Pakistan-based militants for the assault.
“Pakistan has credible intelligence that India intends to carry out military action against Pakistan in the next 24-36 hours, using concocted and baseless allegations regarding the Pahalgam incident as a pretext,” Information Minister Attaullah Tarar told reporters during a midnight press briefing.
Just hours earlier, Indian media reported that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had granted the armed forces “complete operational freedom to decide on the mode, targets, and timing” of India’s response.
According to Reuters, Modi vowed to “identify, track, and punish every terrorist and their backer.”
On Tuesday evening, Modi held a closed-door meeting with senior ministers and military commanders to discuss the national response.
India has long accused Pakistan of sponsoring a separatist insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir, a region both nations claim in full but control in part, divided by the de facto Line of Control (LoC).
Indian officials allege that two of the attackers were Pakistani nationals and that Pakistan maintains operational linkages with the group behind the assault.
According to CBS News, the Indian government has already taken several non-military steps in response.
These include suspending a key water-sharing treaty, downgrading diplomatic relations, and ordering Pakistani nationals to leave the country.
Pakistan responded with reciprocal measures the following day.
Since gaining independence in 1947, India and Pakistan have fought four wars, two of them over Kashmir.
The most recent military engagement took place in 2019, following a deadly terror attack in Pulwama.
On Tuesday, the United Nations issued a stark warning about the potential for catastrophic consequences if the situation deteriorates into open conflict.
“The region and the world cannot afford a confrontation between India and Pakistan, which would be catastrophic for the two countries and for the world as a whole,” said UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric, speaking on behalf of Secretary-General António Guterres.
Guterres spoke separately with Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and India’s foreign minister in an attempt to ease the tensions.
Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio urged both nations to exercise restraint.
“We ask both India and Pakistan not to escalate the situation,” said State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce.
She confirmed that Rubio planned to speak with the foreign ministers of both countries “as early as today or tomorrow [Tuesday or Wednesday].”
