Pakistan has offered to free a captured Indian pilot in return for 'de-escalation' in the disputed Himalayan province of Kashmir as world leaders urged the two nuclear-armed nations to step back from the brink of war.
Despite the pleas for peace Indian politicians demanded more military action today, while protesters in Pakistan waved their country's flag and told their military: 'Move forward, the nation is with you.'
The tension reached its highest point in almost 50 years yesterday as both countries claimed to have shot down warplanes and Pakistan paraded a captured Indian pilot.
Pakistan - which has closed its airspace - said today it would release the pilot if it would ease tensions while India offered to share intelligence on the Kashmir bombing on February 14 which has sparked the crisis.
Last night both sides exchanged gunfire in Kashmir and jet fighters roared overhead through the mountainous region as villagers along the so-called Line of Control fled to safety, and small arms fire and shelling continued into Thursday.
Ready for war: Pakistani protesters hold a banner reading: 'Pakistan army move forward, the nation is with you,' in a rally against India in Quetta as world leaders urged the two nations to step back from the brink of war
Supplies: A train loaded with Indian army trucks and artillery guns is parked at a railway station on the outskirts of Jammu on Thursday amid fears the tension between the two nuclear-armed powers could lead to war
'We are ready to hand over the Indian pilot if it leads to de-escalation,' Pakistan's foreign ministry said on Thursday.
A ceasefire line divides Kashmir between India and Pakistan, but both claim the Himalayan region in its entirety.
Allies of Indian PM Narendra Modi have backed further military action, as the country hurriedly arranged for 14,000 bunkers as Islamabad fired heavy-calibre artillery.
The country's finance minister suggested Indian special forces could carry out secret missions to capture terrorist leaders in Pakistan, invoking the 2011 U.S. raid that killed Osama bin Laden.
Meanwhile the head of Modi's party in India's Karnataka state said India's pre-dawn airstrikes in Pakistan on Tuesday would help the party at the polls, just weeks before a general election.
Today Modi said his country's enemies were conspiring to create instability through terror attacks, calling on Indians to unite 'as the enemy seeks to destabilise India'.
Speaking to tens of thousands of Hindu nationalist party workers he did not mention Pakistan but said a united India would 'fight, live, work and win.'
'The entire country is one today and standing with our soldiers. The world is looking at our collective will and we have faith in our forces' capacity,' he said.
Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan had called for talks between the two nuclear-armed rivals in a televised address , saying: 'Considering the nature of the weapons that both of us have, can we afford any miscalculation?'
The confrontation represents the first major foreign policy crisis for Pakistan's leader, who is believed to be close to the powerful military and who came to power last year vowing to seek dialogue with New Delhi.
A map showing the military clout of Pakistan (left) and India (right) and the volatile disputed region of Kashmir to the north and Jammu and Kashmir to the south
Rally: Pakistanis wave their national flag in a protest against India in Quetta on Thursday amid rising tensions between them. Pakistan's PM Imran Khan has appealed for caution given the 'nature of the weapons that we have'
Standing guard: Indian paramilitary troopers in Srinagar. Some New Delhi politicians have called for more military action while one ally of PM Narendra Modi suggested the airstrikes on Pakistan would help him at the forthcoming elections
Military might: Indian army trucks are transported on a train near a railway station on the outskirts of Jammu
Stranded passengers travelling with 'Friendship Express' between Delhi and Attari in India and Lahore in Pakistan, sit at the waiting area at Lahore railway station after Pakistani officials shut the service down amid the rising tension
In a possible sign of calm today Pakistan's foreign ministry said India has handed over its file on the deadly Kashmir bombing earlier this month which sparked the latest tensions.
Pakistan also has said it will act against those linked to the Kashmir bombing if actionable intelligence is shared with it.
Islamabad is also prepared to release a captured Indian pilot if doing so will ease soaring tension, its foreign ministry said.
World powers have called on the nations to de-escalate the tensions gripping the region since a February 14 suicide car bombing killed over 40 Indian paramilitary personnel.
India responded with an airstrike inside Pakistan on Tuesday, the first such raid since the two nations' 1971 war over territory that later became Bangladesh.
The tension escalated with Wednesday's aerial skirmish, which saw Pakistan say it shot down two Indian aircraft, one of which crashed in Pakistan-held part of Kashmir and the other in India-controlled Kashmir.
India acknowledged one of its MiG-21s, a Soviet-era fighter jet, was 'lost' in skirmishes with Pakistan and that its pilot was 'missing in action.'
New Delhi also said it shot down a Pakistani warplane, something Islamabad denied.
Pakistan's military later circulated a video of a man with a mustache who identified himself as the Indian pilot, sipping tea and responding to questions, mostly by saying, 'You know I can't answer that.'
Footage of the airman, identified as Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman, being beaten and interrogated has gone viral in India and Pakistan.
Stranded: Passengers wait at the check-in area at the Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Bangkok. Thai airways cancelled 11 European-bound flights after Pakistan closed its airspace
People celebrate after the news of two Indian fighter jets shooting down by Pakistani Air Force, in Karachi on Wednesday night
Workers construct a concrete bunker in a residential area near the border with Pakistan in Samba sector near Jammu, many of the civilian population have cleared out their old bunkers while others are having new ones made
Captured: Photos shared on social media purports to show the moment when one of the Indian Air Force pilots is arrested in Pakistani Kashmir
Pakistan's Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR), later released this photo of the pilot showing him having had his face cleaned up and holding a cup of tea
Indian soldiers and Kashmiri onlookers stand near the remains of an Indian Air Force (IAF) aircraft after it crashed in Budgam district in Indian-occupied Kashmir
Firepower: This diagram shows the huge military capabilities of the two nuclear-armed nations
Last night there was a complete power blackout overnight in Muzafarabad, the main city on the Pakistani-held side of the disputed Himalayan region
Pakistan has denied involvement in the Kashmir bombing on February 14.
While India has consistently accused its neighbour of supporting extremist groups, Pakistan has equally vehemently denied any role in attacks in India.
The U.S., along with China, Britain, Germany and the European Union, has called for cooler heads to prevail.
British PM Theresa May has said she is 'deeply concerned about rising tensions between India and Pakistan', adding that the UK 'urgently calls for restraint on both sides to avoid further escalation'.
However Pakistan's ambassador to Washington said that the lack of U.S. condemnation for the Indian airstrike had increased tensions between the two neighbours.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo described the initial strikes by India as 'counter-terrorism actions' and urged Pakistan to take 'meaningful action against terrorist groups operating on its soil.'
The statement 'is construed and understood as an endorsement of the Indian position and that is what emboldened them even more,' the ambassador said.
President Donald Trump has shown no sympathy for Pakistan, last year cutting $300 million in military aid that had been flowing over logistical assistance to US forces in Afghanistan.
Speaking at the end of his summit with Kim Jong-Un, Trump said India and Pakistan have 'been going at it' and that the U.S. has been 'trying to help them both out' to 'see if we can get some organisation and some peace.'
Japan has also urged the countries to 'exercise restraint and stabilise the situation through dialogue'.
Meanwhile several airlines, including Emirates, Etihad and Qatar Airways, suspended flights to Pakistan after the nation closed its airspace.
In Bangkok, an important and busy hub for transcontinental flights, thousands of travellers were stranded amid the political tension.
The terminal was so crowded that the chief of Thailand's immigration police, Surachate Hakparn, tweeted a warning to 'Please spare your time for your trip!'
The disruptions marked an unhappy end to a month-long tropical holiday for a group of 25 Danish students unable to board a connecting flight in Bangkok.
'We are trying to get home but our flight was cancelled so we can't get home and now we've been waiting here for 18 hours without food or water,' said Sara Bjerregaard Larsen, 21. 'And we've been sleeping on the floor.'
Thai Airways says it had rerouted flights to Europe outside Pakistani air space. Malaysia Airlines also said in a travel advisory on its web site that it was avoiding air space over Pakistan and northern India 'until further notice.'
Officials in Kashmir have also closed all schools and educational institutions in the region and are urging parents to keep their children at home amid mounting tension with neighboring India.
Pakistan's foreign ministry said on Thursday that a key train service linking the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore with India has been suspended until 'the security situation improves.'
The violence on Wednesday marked the most serious escalation of the long-simmering conflict since 1999, when Pakistan's military sent a ground force into Indian-controlled Kashmir at Kargil.
That year also saw an Indian fighter jet shoot down a Pakistani naval aircraft, killing all 16 on board.
Kashmir has been claimed by both India and Pakistan since almost immediately after their creation in 1947. The countries have fought three wars against each other, two directly dealing with the disputed region.
Escalations: This map shows where one of the downed planes crashed in Indian Kashmir, as well as where Tuesday's airstrikes against an alleged jihadist militant training camp in the Balakot region took place just days after a suicide bomb attack in Indian Kashmir
Spectacle: Kashmiri villagers gather near the wreckage of an Indian aircraft after it crashed in Budgam yesterday
Students of Islami Jamiat Talaba burn an Indian flag during the protest rally in Lahore
India's Border Security Force (BSF) soldiers patrol along the fenced border with Pakistan in Ranbir Singh Pura sector near Jammu on Tuesday
People chant slogans during a rally after Pakistan shot down two Indian military aircrafts, in Peshawar, Pakistan
One of the banners carried during the Islami Jamiat Talaba rally shows Modi with a target on his face
Neighbouring nuclear arsenals: How do the militaries of India and Pakistan compare?
INDIA
Annual spend on defence: $58billion (£43.6bn), or 2.1 per cent of GDP.
Number of troops: 1.4million.
Number of nuclear warheads: 130 to 140.
Longest range missile: Agni-III - 3,000km (1865miles) to 5,000km (3106miles).
Army vehicles: 3,565 battle tanks, 3,100 infantry fighting vehicles, 336 armoured personnel carriers.
Guns: 9,719 pieces of artillery.
Air force: 814 combat aircraft.
PAKISTAN
Annual spend on defence: $11billion (£8.26bn) or about 3.6 per cent of GDP.
Number of troops: 650,000.
Number of nuclear warheads: 140 to 150.
Longest range missile: Shaheen 2 - 2,000km (1243miles).
Army vehicles: 2,496 tanks, 1,605 armoured personnel carriers.
Guns: 4,472 pieces of artillery, including 375 self-propelled howitzers.
Air force: 425 combat aircraft.
An Embraer jet, centre, is escorted by Sukhoi SU-30s during a flying display during the Aero India 2019 airshow at the Yelahanka Air Force station, in Bangalore last week
Sources: Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) and International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) via Al Jazeera.
Link hienalouca.com
https://hienalouca.com/2019/02/28/pakistan-and-india-exchange-gunfire-through-the-night/
Main photo article Pakistan has offered to free a captured Indian pilot in return for ‘de-escalation’ in the disputed Himalayan province of Kashmir as world leaders urged the two nuclear-armed nations to step back from the brink of war.
Despite the pleas for peace Indian politicians demanded more m...
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Emily Ratajkowski is a showman, on and off the stage. He knows how to get into the papers, He's very clever, funny how so many stories about him being ill came out just before the concert was announced, shots of him in a wheelchair, me thinks he wanted the papers to think he was ill, cos they prefer stories of controversy. Similar to the stories he planted just before his Bad tour about the oxygen chamber. Worked a treat lol. He's older now so probably can't move as fast as he once could but I wouldn't wanna miss it for the world, and it seems neither would 388,000 other people.
Dianne Reeves Online news HienaLouca
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