India accuses Pakistan of carrying out more drone attacks, committing ‘numerous ceasefire violations’

India accuses Pakistan of carrying out more drone attacks, committing ‘numerous ceasefire violations’

A recap of recent developments

As tensions soar between India and Pakistan, misinformation and unconfirmed rumours of attacks were rife on both sides of the Radcliffe Line.

Here’s what you need to know:

The Pakistani military has claimed India fired attack drones into Pakistan on Thursday, killing at least two civilians. Pakistan’s military has also said it has downed 25 Indian drones over its territory.
    
India has claimed Pakistan attacked Akhnoor, Samba, Kathua and multiple other locations in Jammu in Indian-administered Kashmir.
    
India also claimed that Pakistan has fired missiles and drones at military stations in Jammu, Pathankot and Udhampur, close to the countries’ shared border.
    
Indian media has also reported that a Pakistani air force pilot was captured by Indian security forces after ejecting from his fighter jet over the city of Jaisalmer.
    
Pakistan’s Information Minister Attaullah Tarar has denied that Pakistan launched any attacks in Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday, saying the country’s military has not fired “across (the) international border”. He also denied a Pakistani pilot had been captured.
    
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, in calls with leaders of both India and Pakistan, “emphasised the need for immediate de-escalation”, US State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said.

Pakistan’s US envoy says India, Pakistan have had contact at national security level

Pakistan’s ambassador to the US, Rizwan Saeed Sheikh, said there has been contact at the level of national security, but called for the escalation “both in terms of the actions that have been taken and in terms of rhetoric that is coming out” to stop.

“Now the responsibility for de-escalation is on India, but there are constraints on restraint. Pakistan reserves the right to respond back. There is enough pressure from our public opinion on the government to respond,” he said in an interview with CNN.

More on Pakistan’s decision to move cricket matches to UAE

Earlier, we reported that the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has decided to move the remaining eight matches of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) to the United Arab Emirates due to growing security concerns amid increasing tensions with India.

PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi, who is also the country’s interior minister, said the decision was reached for the sake of the safety of players.

“The PCB has always stood by the position that politics and sports need to be kept apart,” he said.

“However, in view of the extremely irresponsible and dangerous Indian act of targeting the stadium, the PCB has taken this decision,” Naqvi was quoted as saying in the statement issued by the board.

Several drones were reportedly launched by India on Thursday morning, including at least three on Pakistan’s Rawalpindi city, one of which was reported to have come down within the compound of Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium, which is currently hosting Pakistan Super League matches.

X to comply with Indian order to block more than 8,000 accounts

The Indian government has ordered X to block users in the country from accessing more than 8,000 accounts, the social media platform said, as New Delhi continues its sweeping crackdown on Pakistan-related social media content.

“X has received executive orders from the Indian government requiring X to block over 8,000 accounts in India, subject to potential penalties including significant fines and imprisonment of the company’s local employees,” the site’s global government affairs team said in a statement.

The Elon Musk-owned platform said the order includes demands to block international news organisations and other prominent users. The company did not provide details. It also added that the Indian government had not specified which posts violated Indian law and provided little evidence or justification for the demand to block accounts.

“Blocking entire accounts is not only unnecessary, it amounts to censorship of existing and future content, and is contrary to the fundamental right of free speech,” the X statement said.

“This is not an easy decision, however keeping the platform accessible in India is vital to Indians’ ability to access information,” it added.

The move by X comes a day after Instagram owner Meta also banned Indian users from accessing a prominent Muslim news page on the platform at New Delhi’s request.

India-Pakistan drone war heats up

Pakistan’s military says it brought down 25 Indian drones over cities including Karachi and Lahore.

India says Pakistan had targeted India and Indian-administered Kashmir with drones and missiles that were shot down.

The exchanges are fuelling fears of a new phase in the ongoing tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbours.

Turkiye’s Erdogan backs international probe on Pahalgam attack

In a statement posted on social media, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed concern that the escalation of tensions between India and Pakistan “will turn into a hot conflict”, which could result in the deaths of many civilians.

After a telephone conversation with Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Erdogan said that he found Islamabad’s proposal “for an international investigation into the heinous terrorist attack” in Pahalgam, in Indian-administered Kashmir, “valuable”.

The attack in April killed at least 26 civilians and ignited the current tension between India and Pakistan after New Delhi laid the blame for the killings on Islamabad.

“Although there are those who want to pour gasoline onto the fire, we in Turkiye are making every effort to reduce tensions and open channels of dialogue before events reach a point of no return,” Erdogan wrote on X.

Chief minister of Indian-administered Kashmir heads to Jammu

Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said in a post on X that he was heading to Jammu “to take stock of the situation” after what he described as a “failed Pakistani drone attack” directed at the city – the largest in the Jammu region of Indian-administered Kashmir.

We reported that residents of Jammu said there was widespread panic on Thursday night after what they described as a barrage of “drones and missiles” fired from Pakistan.

Residents in the city reported disruptions to phone signals and power outages.

Pakistan’s army said earlier that it had shot down 28 Indian drones, while India’s Defence Ministry said it “neutralised” Pakistan’s attempt to “engage a number of military targets … using drones and missiles”.

Pakistan’s information minister denies ‘baseless’ drone attack claim by India

Previously, we reported that Pakistan’s Information Minister Attaullah Tarar denied that Pakistan launched attacks on targets in Jammu in Indian-administered Kashmir on Thursday.

Now, in a video message published on X by Pakistan’s government, Tarar has again denied that Pakistan carried out any attacks and questioned the veracity of footage aired by Indian media.

“I have seen a video aired by an Indian television channel showing a drone that appears completely unmarked and untouched, simply lying on the ground,” he told news outlet France 24.

“Based on this, I believe the accusations levelled against Pakistan by India are baseless,” he added.

South Asia expert warns against spread of disinformation amid India-Pakistan tensions

Earlier, we reported on the spread of misinformation and rumours linked to the escalating conflict between India and Pakistan.

Michael Kugelman, a South Asia analyst and writer for Foreign Policy magazine, said that disinformation regarding the conflict “is escalating as rapidly as the hostilities”.

“Both are very dangerous for different reasons,” he said in a social media post, urging the public to follow reliable sources of information and fact-checkers.

“At moments like this, their work is absolutely critical.”

Human rights lawyer denounces India’s decision to block social media accounts

In a post on social media, Arjun Sethi, a civil and human rights advocate, called India a leader in “the world in digital authoritarianism”.

India had earlier ordered X to block more than 8,000 accounts, the platform said it was reluctantly complying with what it described as government-imposed “censorship”, amid its escalating conflict with neighbouring Pakistan.

Sethi, who is also an expert on surveillance issues at Georgetown University, noted that blocked accounts include human rights defenders and international news outlets.

India has also banned over a dozen Pakistani YouTube channels, including several news outlets, accusing them of spreading “provocative” content, as well as the Instagram account of Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Imran Khan, according to The Hindustan Times.

India accuses Pakistan of carrying out more drone attacks, committing ‘numerous ceasefire violations’

The Indian army has claimed that Pakistan’s armed forces launched multiple attacks using drones and other weapons along India’s western border on Thursday night and Friday morning.

The army said Pakistan also “resorted to numerous ceasefire violations” along the Line of Control (LoC) between Indian- and Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

“The drone attacks were effectively repulsed,” the military said in a post on X, adding that it gave a “befitting reply”, without providing details.

Pakistan has denied carrying out any cross-border attacks over recent days.