Pakistan said today it has "reliable intelligence" that India is planning to attack it in the next few days and threatened to respond "very strongly".
Soldiers have exchanged fire along the border in recent days, with reports continuing today, and Pakistanis have heeded New Delhi's orders to leave India following last week's deadly attack in the Indian-controlled part of Kashmir.
India has moved to punish Pakistan after accusing it of supporting the Pahalgam attack, which Islamabad denies, raising tensions between the nuclear rivals to their highest point since 2019, when they came close to war after a suicide bombing in Kashmir. The region is divided between India and Pakistan, with both countries claiming its entirety.
Pakistan said intelligence indicated that India was planning military action against it in the next 24 to 36 hours "under the pretext of baseless and fabricated allegations of involvement" by Pakistan in the Pahalgam attack.
Indian officials have not yet commented. However, Indian government officials said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi "has given complete operational freedom to the armed forces to decide on the manner, objectives and timing of India's response to the Pahalgam massacre."
Last week's attack, which killed 26 people, mostly Indian tourists, was claimed by a previously unknown militant group, the Kashmir Resistance. New Delhi describes everything happening in Indian-controlled Kashmir as terrorism backed by Pakistan. Pakistan denies this, and many Muslim Kashmiris see the militants as part of a domestic freedom struggle.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, in separate phone calls with India and Pakistan, stressed the need to "avoid a conflict that could lead to tragic consequences."
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke to Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and "stressed the need for both sides to continue working together for peace and stability in South Asia," a Pakistani statement said.
Earlier, Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar told reporters that he had "made it very clear, on behalf of the government and the nation, that Pakistan will not be the first to resort to any escalating move. However, in case of any escalating move by the Indian side, we will respond very strongly."
Army spokesman Lieutenant General Ahmad Sharif added: "If they think aggression is the way forward, our message is just this: we are ready, don't test it."
Pakistan did not elaborate on the "credible intelligence" it cited.
The deadline for Pakistani nationals to leave India, with exceptions for those on medical visas, passed on Sunday, but many families are still heading towards the border crossing in the town of Atari in the northern Indian state of Punjab. Some have arrived on their own. Others have been deported by police.
"We have settled our families here. We demand the government not to uproot our families," said Sara Khan, a Pakistani woman who was ordered to return without her husband, Aurangzeb Khan, who holds an Indian passport. She was carrying her 14-day-old child and said she had been living in Indian-controlled Kashmir since 2017.
"They (Indian authorities) told me we were illegal and we should go," Khan said as she waited on the Indian side of the border crossing.
Other diplomatic measures include visa suspensions and the recall of diplomats. New Delhi suspended a key water-sharing agreement with Islamabad and ordered the closure of its border with Pakistan. In response, Pakistan closed its airspace to Indian airlines.
India announced tonight the closure of its airspace to all Pakistani aircraft until May 23. Cross-border exchanges of fire between soldiers have intensified along the Line of Control, the de facto border that separates the Kashmir territory between the two rivals.
India and Pakistan today accused each other of instigating the shooting.
Pakistani state media said Indian forces violated a ceasefire agreement along the Line of Control by firing heavy weapons. According to Pakistani television, Pakistani troops returned fire after coming under attack overnight in the Mandal sector of Pakistan-controlled Kashmir.
The Indian army said it had responded to "unprovoked" small arms fire from Pakistan in the Naushera, Sunderbani and Akhnoor sectors of Indian-controlled Kashmir.
These incidents have not been independently confirmed. Previously, both sides have traded accusations of starting border clashes in the Himalayan region.
The Indian government's security committee, headed by Prime Minister Modi, met today, the second time since the attack.
Three tourists who survived the attack told The Associated Press that gunmen singled out Hindus and shot them at close range. A Nepalese national and a local Muslim pony-riding instructor were among the dead.
Aishanja Dwivedi, whose husband was killed, said the gunman approached her and her husband and asked him to recite the Islamic declaration of faith. Her husband replied that he was Hindu, and the gunman shot him in the head at close range, she said.
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