Tensions mount as Pakistani PM vows retaliation for military strikes by India that killed dozens across the country
Tensions are high across India and Pakistan, with airports shut down and security drills under way in major border cities, after warnings by Pakistan that it intended to retaliate for Wednesday’s strikes.
In a speech late on Wednesday night, the prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, said he would “solemnly swear that we will avenge each and every drop of blood of our martyrs”, after India’s missile airstrikes on Pakistan in the early hours of Wednesday, which killed 31 people across the country.
Nine locations, including four in Pakistan’s Punjab region, were targeted in the precision air and drone strikes, in what was India’s most extensive military attack on Pakistan in decades.
On Thursday morning, Pakistani officials claimed their air defence systems had shot down an Indian drone overnight as it flew close to an airfield in the border city of Lahore. There was no immediate comment from India.
Across both countries, flights were suspended and airports shut down. In Pakistan, all flights from Karachi, Lahore and Sialkot airports were suspended until Thursday afternoon. More than 20 local airports across the north of India were closed until Saturday.
In Pakistan’s Sindh region, which shares a border with India, a state of emergency was declared in all hospitals and health facilities, and all medical personnel and support staff leave was cancelled, according to a notice issued by the provincial health department.
