Pakistan’s defense minister said an Indian military incursion into his country is “imminent” amid rising tensions between the two nations.
In an interview at his Islamabad office, Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif told Reuters that Pakistan was reinforcing its positions on the border in preparation for a direct Indian attack.
“We have reinforced our forces because it is something which is imminent now,” Asif said. “So in that situation, some strategic decisions have to be taken, so those decisions have been taken.”
Asif also said India’s rhetoric was growing more belligerent. He did not give specifics as to why he believes an Indian attack is imminent, but he said the Pakistani military has briefed the government.
Pakistan has briefed the Gulf states, China, the United Kingdom, the United States, and other major powers on the possibility of an armed conflict, according to Asif, who said the U.S. specifically is “staying away” from intervening in the conflict.
The prospect of war between India and Pakistan is particularly alarming due to both countries’ possession of nuclear weapons. Asif reiterated that Islamabad would only use nuclear weapons if “there is a direct threat to our existence.”
The long-simmering conflict in Kashmir, India, blew up last week, when Islamic Kashmir separatists killed 26 tourists and injured over a dozen others. Indian authorities claimed that two of the militants were Pakistani, a charge Pakistani officials deny. New Delhi and Islamabad have since taken escalatory measures against each other, bringing the region close to war.
Islamabad believes the greatest escalation is India’s suspension of the decades-old Indus Waters Treaty, which controls the rivers that feed Pakistan’s irrigation system. Irrigation is vital to the country of 247.5 million, where agriculture makes up about one-quarter of its gross domestic product and 37.4% of employment. The majority of the population is directly or indirectly dependent on agriculture, according to the country’s statistics bureau.
Asif echoed Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s comment last week that the suspension of the treaty represented an “act of war.
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Experts told the New York Times that the antiquated state of India’s military makes a more limited intervention likely, such as airstrikes within Pakistan or special forces raids.
The simmering conflict over Kashmir has played a central role in sparking the long-lasting rivalry between Pakistan and India since their independence in 1947. The two have fought wars over the region in 1965 and 1999, and there have been several skirmishes or wider conflicts involving the region. The 1999 Kargil War remains the only major war directly fought between two nuclear-armed states.