Part of a damaged aircraft near Srinagar, in Indian-controlled Kashmir, yesterday. Credit…Tauseef Mustafa/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
Will the India-Pakistan conflict escalate further?
After India had conducted airstrikes on Pakistan and the Pakistani-held area of Kashmir, the Pakistani military yesterday shot down at least two Indian aircraft, according to Indian officials and Western diplomats, as well as local media reports and witness accounts. The question now is whether Pakistan will decide that it must answer India’s strikes with an attack of its own on Indian soil.
For now, Pakistan says it is keeping all its options open. But diplomats and analysts expressed some hope that an all-out war could be averted. Pakistan’s defense minister said he would welcome further U.S. efforts to help defuse his country’s crisis with India.
The Pakistani military said more than 20 people had been killed and dozens injured after India hit six places in Pakistani-held Kashmir and in Punjab Province. Residents of the Indian side of Kashmir said at least 10 people were killed by shelling from the Pakistani side.
Even as India hailed its “Operation Sindoor” attack on Pakistan as a victory in response to the terrorist attack in Kashmir last month that killed 26 people, evidence grew that their forces may have taken heavy losses.
Credit…Source: Pakistani military (strike locations) By The New York Times
Perspective: My colleague Mujib Mashal, our South Asia bureau chief, explained what led to the strikes in this Times video. “The history of these two countries has really been a history of managed hostilities,” Mujib said.
