India and Pakistan, Two Nuclear-Armed Neighbors, Start Playing All-Or-Nothing Game

South Asia is on edge as a new wave of military escalation between India and Pakistan has resulted in dozens of civilian casualties and mounting international concern over the risk of a broader conflict between the two nuclear-armed neighbors.

Photo: flickr.com by Andy Dunaway, https://creativecommons.org/public-domain/pdm/

Air strike explosion

India launched a series of missile strikes on Pakistani territory as part of Operation Sindoor, targeting what its Ministry of Defense described as terrorist camps linked to a deadly bombing in the Indian town of Pahalgam. According to Indian officials, the April 22 attack killed 26 tourists, including one Nepali citizen. India claims its strikes were "precise,” "restrained,” and aimed solely at "known terrorist camps,” without targeting any Pakistani civilian, economic, or military infrastructure.

However, Pakistani authorities tell a different story.

Civilian Casualties Reported

According to Pakistan's Ministry of Defense, India conducted 24 strikes across six locations, resulting in the deaths of at least 26 civilians, including two children. An additional 46 people were injured, and two remain missing. Earlier figures released had cited eight deaths and 35 injuries, which were later revised.

Pakistani media outlet Geo TV reported that a state of emergency has been declared in Punjab province-one of the regions struck by Indian missiles. All medical personnel in the province have had their leave canceled as hospitals brace for more casualties.

Pakistan Responds

In retaliation, Pakistan launched a counter-strike on Indian-administered Kashmir. According to Indian police cited by Reuters, ten people were killed and 48 injured in the Pakistani strikes. The Pakistani military claims it also shot down two Indian Rafale fighter jets and one unmanned aerial vehicle during the hostilities. However, these reports have not been independently confirmed.

The Pakistani Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) spokesperson, Major General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, stated that Indian missiles struck areas in Kotli, Bahawalpur, and Muzaffarabad. He condemned the strikes as "cowardly and treacherous,” while Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif declared the Indian assault "an act of war." Chaudhry confirmed that Pakistan's air force had scrambled jets in response to the attack.

Diplomatic Fallout

The Pakistani Ministry of Foreign Affairs strongly condemned India's actions, calling them an "unprovoked and blatant act of war” that violated the UN Charter and international law. The ministry accused India of targeting civilian populations with weapons of mass destruction, endangering women and children.

"These reckless and cowardly actions by India have brought both nations, who possess nuclear weapons, dangerously close to a major conflict,” the ministry stated, adding that the situation was still developing.

The ministry also alleged that India was exploiting the April 22 terrorist attack for political gain.

"India is once again using the threat of terrorism to push its false narrative as a victim, thereby putting regional peace and security at risk,” the statement read.

India's Position

Meanwhile, the Indian Embassy in Washington D.C. defended the strikes, citing credible intelligence linking the Pahalgam attack to Pakistani-based terrorists.

"We expected the Pakistani government to act against terrorist elements on its soil. Instead, it has spent the past two weeks in denial and issuing baseless accusations against India," the embassy stated.

Airspace Closed, Flights Disrupted

As tensions escalate, Pakistan has closed its airspace for 48 hours. Islamabad International Airport has suspended all flights, diverting air traffic to Karachi. 

The rapidly deteriorating situation has drawn international attention, with observers warning that further military action could plunge the region into a serious crisis.

Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs:

• India committed an “unprovoked and blatant act of war,” violating the UN Charter, international law, and established norms of interstate relations.
• While remaining in its own airspace, the Indian military violated Pakistan’s sovereignty by using weapons of mass destruction and targeting civilian populations. As a result of India's actions, civilians were killed, including women and children.
• India’s “reckless” and “cowardly” actions have brought the two nuclear-armed nations dangerously close to a major conflict. The situation continues to evolve.
• Following the April 22 terrorist attack in Pahalgam (which killed 26 tourists), India once again used the threat of terrorism to promote its false image as a victim, thereby endangering regional peace and security.

Indian Embassy in the United States:

• India possesses credible intelligence linking the Pahalgam attack to terrorists based in Pakistan.
• It was expected that the Pakistani authorities would act against the terrorists and their infrastructure, but instead, over the past two weeks, Pakistan has engaged in denial and made accusations against India.
• India’s strikes were “precise,” “calibrated,” “restrained,” “responsible,” and “aimed at preventing escalation.” No Pakistani civilian, economic, or military targets were hit; the strikes were carried out “only against known terrorist camps.”

Details

 
India possesses nuclear weapons and previously developed chemical weapons. Although India has not released any official statements about the size of its nuclear arsenal, recent estimates suggest that India has 180 nuclear weapons. India has conducted nuclear weapons tests in a pair of series namely Pokhran I and Pokhran II. India is a member of three multilateral export control regimes — the Missile Technology Control Regime, Wassenaar Arrangement and Australia Group. It has signed and ratified the Biological Weapons Convention and the Chemical Weapons Convention. India is also a subscribing state to the Hague Code of Conduct. India has signed neither the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty nor the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, considering both to be flawed and discriminatory. India previously possessed chemical weapons, but voluntarily destroyed its entire stockpile in 2009 — one of the seven countries to meet the OPCW extended deadline. India maintains a "no first use" nuclear policy and has developed a nuclear triad capability as a part of its "credible minimum deterrence" doctrine. Its no first use is qualified in that while India states it generally will not use nuclear weapons first, it may do so in the event of "a major attack against India, or Indian forces anywhere, by biological or chemical weapons.

Pakistan is one of nine states that possess nuclear weapons. Pakistan began developing nuclear weapons in January 1972 under Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who delegated the program to the Chairman of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) Munir Ahmad Khan with a commitment to having the device ready by the end of 1976. Since PAEC, which consisted of over twenty laboratories and projects under reactor physicist Munir Ahmad Khan, was falling behind schedule and having considerable difficulty producing fissile material, Abdul Qadeer Khan, a metallurgist working on centrifuge enrichment for Urenco, joined the program at the behest of the Bhutto administration by the end of 1974. Producing fissile material was pivotal to the Kahuta Project's success and thus to Pakistan obtaining the capability to detonate a nuclear weapon by the end of 1984