India’s attack on Pakistan-controlled territory comes amid a mounting feeling that “retribution” and “punishment” were needed for a deadly attack a fortnight ago, says Sky’s India reporter Neville Lazarus.
At least 26 people, most of whom were Indian tourists, were shot dead by gunmen at a beauty spot near the resort town of Pahalgam in the Indian-controlled part of Kashmir on 22 April.
“Earlier tourists were always spared – but this time they were specifically being targeted and since then there’s been an uproar in India,” says Lazarus.
“There has been a mood for some sort of punishment, retribution for these horrendous attacks that took place.”
That call has now been acted on, with Pakistan security officials saying early on Wednesday that India had fired missiles across the border.
Locations in Pakistan-administered Kashmir and in the eastern Punjab province were hit, according to officials.
Two Indian jets were also shot down, state-run Pakistan Television reported, quoting officials.
Sky’s India reporter says the call to hit back after the April attack had received support from the very top.
“Prime Minister Modi said very publicly – not once but several times – that India will punish the perpetrators of this attack and also the backers,” says Lazarus.
“They believe there has been a linkage with Pakistan-based terrorist groups.”
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India has also announced mock civil and military drills across the country tomorrow in case there is “any sort of retaliatory attacks on India”, adds Lazarus.
The country’s air force is also flying drills for at least 48 hours in the Rajasthan area, near the border with Pakistan.
“Tit for tat” small arms fire has been going on between India and Pakistan across the 700km-plus border ever since the 22 April attack, says Lazarus.
He says it’s uncertain how far the current crisis between the nuclear-armed neighbours will go, pointing out the countries have “fought several wars and skirmishes” over the disputed Himalayan region over the decades.
“We’ve seen this in the past, in 2019,” says Lazarus.
“There was an attack on a convoy with Indian paramilitary soldiers in Pulwana – a suicide bomber rammed his car into this convoy, killing 40 people; then there were retaliatory surgical strikes across the border.”
