NEW DELHI/ISLAMABAD: The sparring between India and Pakistan last monththreatened to spiral out of control and only interventions by U.S.officials, including National Security Advisor John Bolton, headed off abigger conflict, five sources familiar with the events said.
At one stage, India threatened to fire at least six missiles at Pakistan,and Islamabad said it would respond with its own missile strikes “threetimes over”, according to Western diplomats and government sources in NewDelhi, Islamabad and Washington.
The way in which tensions suddenly worsened and threatened to trigger a warbetween the nuclear-armed nations shows how the Kashmir region, which bothclaim and is at the core of their enmity, remains one of the world’s mostdangerous flashpoints.
The exchanges did not get beyond threats, and there was no suggestion thatthe missiles involved were anything more than conventional weapons, butthey created consternation in official circles in Washington, Beijing andLondon.
Reuters has pieced together the events that led to the most seriousmilitary crisis in South Asia since 2008, as well as the concerteddiplomatic efforts to get both sides to back down.
The simmering dispute erupted into conflict late last month when Indian andPakistani warplanes engaged in a dogfight over Kashmir on Feb 27, a dayafter a raid by Indian jet fighters on what it said was a militant camp inPakistan. Islamabad denied any militant camp exists in the area and saidthe Indian bombs exploded on an empty hillside.
In their first such clash since the last war between the two nations in1971, Pakistan downed an Indian plane and captured its pilot after heejected in Azad Kashmir.
Hours later, videos of the bloodied Indian pilot, handcuffed andblindfolded, appeared on social media, identifying himself to Pakistaniinterrogators, deepening anger in New Delhi.
With Prime Minister Narendra Modi facing a general election in April-May,the government was under pressure to respond.“NO GOING BACK”
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That evening, Indian National Security Adviser Ajit Doval spoke over asecure line to the head of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI),Asim Munir, to tell him India was not going to back off its new campaign of“counter-terrorism” even after the pilot’s capture, an Indian governmentsource and a Western diplomat with knowledge of the conversations toldReuters in New Delhi.
Doval told Munir that India’s fight was with the militant groups thatfreely operated from Pakistani soil and it was prepared to escalate, saidthe government source.
A Pakistani government minister and a Western diplomat in Islamabadseparately confirmed a specific Indian threat to use six missiles ontargets inside Pakistan. They did not specify who delivered the threat orwho received it, but the minister said Indian and Pakistani intelligenceagencies “were communicating with each other during the fight, and even nowthey are communicating with each other”.
Pakistan said it would counter any Indian missile attacks with many morelaunches of its own, the minister told Reuters, speaking on condition ofanonymity.
“We said if you will fire one missile, we will fire three. Whatever Indiawill do, we will respond three times to that,” the Pakistani minister said.
Doval’s office did not respond to a request for comment. India was notaware of any missile threat issued to Pakistan, a government official saidin reply to a Reuters request for comment.
Pakistan’s military declined to comment and Munir could not be reached forcomment. Pakistan’s foreign ministry did not respond to a Reuters requestfor comment. – Reuters
