On Saturday, India and Pakistan expressed their willingness to reduce the military escalation between them, provided that each party committed to this, but they exchanged the bombing and excluded Islamabad “the nuclear option at the current stage” after reports about its call to convene the country’s highest nuclear body in response to Indian attacks.
“If India stops its escalation, Islamabad will activate the same thing,” Pakistani Foreign Minister Isaac Dar Al -Youm said.
Speaking to the Pakistani TV station “Gio News”, Ishaq Dar said, “If there is an atom of the mind, India will stop, and if they stop, we will stop also. We want peace honestly without the domination of any country.”
The Pakistani minister stated that he also conveyed this message to his American counterpart Marco Rubio when he called him after talking to New Delhi two hours ago. “We have responded because our patience has reached its limit. If they stopped there, we will also study the stop,” he said.
For his part, Pakistani Defense Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif said that the nuclear option “is not now, but if developments occur in the situation, the observers will also be affected.”
Speaking to the “Geo News” channel, Asif said, “I tell the world that this will not only be limited to the region, but it may be a much wider destruction … Our options are diminished in light of the situation that India creates.”
The Pakistani minister also denied an invitation to hold a meeting of the National Command Authority, which is responsible for making operational decisions regarding Pakistani nuclear weapons.
Earlier this morning, Saturday, the Pakistani “Sama News” channel reported that Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif called on the “National Command Authority” responsible for overseeing the missile program, nuclear weapons and other strategic assets to the meeting.
The channel expected that the meeting would attend the senior civil and military leaders to assess the situation and discuss possible diplomatic and defense responses, adding that it will focus on the preparedness of the national defense, strategic deterrence and review of the advanced regional security scene after the last Pakistani military operation.
CNN reported that the first phone call between India and Pakistan was made amid the escalation of the conflict between them, and said that Islamabad was seeking a meeting with New Delhi.
Reuters also quoted the Indian Foreign Minister as saying that he had informed his American counterpart that the Indian approach was and would remain studied and responsible.
For his part, the US Secretary of State urged both Pakistan and India to find ways to calm tension between them. The US State Department said that Rubio spoke to the Pakistani army commander Asim Mounir and offered assistance to start constructive talks to avoid any future conflicts.
Indian statements
On the other hand, Indian Air Force spokeswoman Fiumika Singh said on Saturday that “India is committed to not escalating, provided that Pakistan responds to the same.”
She added that the Pakistani ground forces “were seen gathering their forces towards the front areas, indicating an offensive intention to escalate the situation,” stressing that “the Indian armed forces are still at high operational alert.”
Singh explained that the Indian armed forces carried out “accurate strikes on specific military targets only in response to Pakistani measures, which included technical infrastructure, command and control centers, radar sites, and arms storage areas to ensure the least amount of side effects.”
She added that last night, Pakistan fired several high -speed missiles targeting multiple air bases and civil infrastructure in Punjab state in northern India. She explained that “all hostilities were effectively confronted and responded appropriately.”
As for Indian Foreign Minister Vikram Missri, he rejected “the allegations of the Pakistani army to destroy several air bases in India and severe damage to artillery warehouses, military institutions and vital infrastructure, including power stations.”
India announced its targeting Pakistani military bases after Islamabad launched several high -speed missiles on several Indian air bases in Punjab state this morning.
Pakistan had announced earlier that it had intercepted most of the missiles that targeted three air bases, and that retaliatory strikes on India are ongoing.
The Indian doctrine Sofia Quraishi said, at a press conference in New Delhi, that Pakistan also targeted health facilities and schools in its three air bases in the part of India’s control of Kashmir. “The Pakistani procedures have been answered properly,” she added.
A spokeswoman for the Indian Ministry of Defense announced that the Pakistani forces tried to penetrate into 26 Indian sites.
The spokeswoman said, at a joint press conference with the Indian Foreign Ministry, that Pakistan is strengthening the deployment of its forces on the border, and that it used a high -speed missile to target an air base in Punjab.
Earlier last night, the Indian missiles targeted Nour Khan Air Force Base in the city of Rawwabe, near the capital, Islamabad, Merid Air Force Base in Chakwal, and Rafici Air Force Base in Jahang area in the eastern Punjab region, according to the Pakistani military spokesman.
The Pakistani army announced that it had used medium -range light missiles to target an Indian missile storage facility and air bases in the cities of Pathancott and Odhambur.
The army spokesman, Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif, stated that the origins of the Pakistani Air Force are safe after the Indian strikes, adding that some Indian missiles also hit the east of Punjab in India.
The tensions between the two nuclear armed opponents have escalated since the attack on April 22nd on a famous tourist site in the part of India’s control of Kashmir, killing 26 civilians, most of them Hindu Indian tourists. New Delhi blamed Pakistan to support the attack, an accusation denied by Islamabad.