- IPL suspended indefinitely as India-Pakistan military tensions soar

- Blackout ordered in many districts of Punjab and schools closed for three days

metro india news  I NEW DELHI

The clashes follow escalating tension between the two nuclear-armed countries since a deadly attack on Indian-administered Kashmir’s Pahalgam on April 22. Pakistan’s military on Friday said that there will be ‘no de-escalation’ with India until it has responded to India’s Wednesday strikes.

The Indian Ambassador to US Vinay Kwatra said that India is at war with the terrorists and will bring justice to victims of the Pahalgam attack by holding the “lowlifes, subhuman monsters” accountable, underscoring that in no world would these terrorists be allowed a free pass.

India launched ‘Operation Sindoor' on May 7, striking terror factories at nine locations in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in retaliation for the Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 civilians and for which The Resistance Front (TRF), a front for the UN-proscribed Pakistani terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba, had claimed responsibility.

To a comment that Pakistan has denied involvement in the attacks, Kwatra said that “denial and obfuscation” has always been the first part of Pakistan’s strategy.

US and China keep away

US Vice President J D Vance says that the conflict between India and Pakistan is “fundamentally none of our business,” though he and President Donald Trump are encouraging the countries to deescalate. Similarly, China only called India and Pakistan to exercise maximum restraint in the ‘larger interest of peace and stability’ in the region. “We are concerned about the ongoing situation. India and Pakistan are and will always be each other’s neighbours. They are both China’s neighbours as well," the statement said.

On Friday, An Air raid siren was sounded in Ambala after receiving a warning from the Indian Air Force Station of a “possible attack", prompting the district administration to advise the residents to remain indoors and away from balconies. According to the sources, the alert was issued at around 10:20 am on Friday.

There was a blackout situation in Jammu, Srinagar, Udhampur, Baramulla, Pathankot, Chandigarh, Gurdaspur, Amritsar, Jalandhar, Barmer, and Jaisalmer on Thursday night after Pakistan attempted to target several areas in India.