India attacks Pakistan with missiles, which denounces it as an "act of war"

BarcelonaAfter weeks of skirmishes, India launched a missile attack on Tuesday night against at least nine locations in Pakistan and Kashmir, the Pakistani-administered region that the two nuclear powers are disputing. It was acting against "terrorist infrastructure." Pakistan has called it an "act of war" and claims it has shot down five Indian warplanes. -BK_SLT_LNA~ defense." In a statement, it called on the international community to recognize "the gravity of India's unprovoked illegal actions and hold it accountable for its flagrant violations of international norms and laws."

The so-called Operation Sindoor launched by India represents a further, decisive step in the the murder of 25 Indian tourists and one Nepalese man at the end of April, in an attack in the tourist hill resort of Pahalgam, located in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. India accuses Pakistan of supporting cross-border terrorism, while Islamabad strongly denies the accusation. In fact, Pakistan has distanced itself from the insurgent militias responsible for the attack, which are fighting for the independence of Indian-controlled Kashmir or its merger with Pakistan-controlled Kashmir.

One of the Indian missiles hit a mosque in the city of Bahawalpur, in Punjab, Pakistan's most populous province, killing a child and wounding a woman. The other targets were near Muridke, also in Punjab, and Kotli, in Pakistani-administered Kashmir. On the Indian side of the Kashmir border, there was an exchange of artillery fire along the so-called Line of Control. According to the Indian military, at least seven civilians were killed and five others wounded in this area.

The Pakistan-based Islamist militant group Jaish-e-Mohammad has claimed that 10 relatives of its leader Masood Azhar were killed as a result of one of the Indian attacks.

The Pakistani prime minister has vowed revenge: "Pakistan has every right to respond with force to this act of war by India, and that is the response we are giving. The Pakistani nation and the Pakistani armed forces know very well how to deal with the enemy." In a statement, the Indian army explains that it has attacked "terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and in the Pakistani-occupied regions of Jammu and Kashmir from where terrorist attacks against India have been directed and planned." New Delhi maintains that it has not attacked the Pakistani army and that its actions are not intended to escalate. India has accused its neighbor of violating the ceasefire agreement along the Line of Control that marks the border. de facto from Kashmir.

Pakistan's Foreign Ministry said the attack threatens commercial air traffic. "This indiscriminate escalation has brought two more nuclear powers close to a major conflict," it said. Major airlines have suspended flights.

Water War

The attacks came hours after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi threatened to divert the flow of rivers flowing outside its borders, something Pakistan considered tantamount to an act of war.

Modi didn't specifically refer to Islamabad, but New Delhi has suspended part of the 65-year-old Indus River Treaty, which is essential for Pakistan's drinking and agriculture. "India's water used to flow outside the country, and now it will flow within India," Modi said.

Call for calm

Various voices, from government officials to non-governmental organizations, have warned that this increase in tensions between two nuclear powers poses a very high risk and have called for calm. The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) has warned that if the escalation of hostilities continues, it could degenerate into a conflict involving atomic weapons capable of causing "millions of immediate deaths in the region and would have global consequences."

The United Kingdom has described this as a "grave concern" and urged both countries to exercise restraint and open direct dialogue. "I have made it clear to my counterparts in India and Pakistan that if the situation escalates further, no one will be on the record," said British Foreign Secretary David Lammy.

Other countries that have come out to call for restraint have been China, which has urged both countries to "prioritize peace and stability" and "avoid actions that further complicate the situation," and Russia, which has expressed "deep concern about the escalation of the military confrontation."