India/Pakistan Fighting

[Yazata]

A couple of weeks ago Pakistani-supported terrorists attacked a mountain resort in the Indian territory of Jammu and Kashmir, killing about two dozen civilian vacationers.

So night before last, the Indian air force conducted air strikes against several terrorist bases on the Pakistani side of the Kashmir dividing line.

Pakistani sources claim that several hundred "civilians" were killed in the strikes. These almost certainly include terrorists who aren't officially part of the Pakistani armed forces despite being based in Pakistani controlled territory and being armed by the Pakistani army.

For their part the Pakistanis claim to have shot down as many as five Indian jets using their own Chinese supplied jets and air to air missiles. Shelling is continuing in both directions on both sides of the Kashmir dividing line, at times heavy.

The Pakistanis refuse to take any responsibility for the terrorists and are trying to portray the Indian air strikes as an unprovoked attack on Pakistan and are promising retaliation.

Civilian airliners are mostly avoiding Pakistan entirely and the border regions of India. The US State Department has put out a travel warning.

Latest is the sound of what might be explosions heard in the Indian city of Amritsar, near the border, less than an hour ago.

[Yazata]

The sound of explosions is being reported in the Pakistani city of Gujranwala. Unclear if this is Indian air attacks or the sounds of Pakistan antiaircraft defenses.

The Amritsar explosions appear to have been India using their Russian made surface to air missiles to shoot down three Chinese made Pakistani jets, identified as two JF-17's and one J-10

One or more of the Indian jets that the Pakistanis shot down earlier were French made Rafales.

Reports that all electrical power is out in city of Jammu in Indian Jammu and Kashmir. People in Amritsar are being told not to panic, to stay indoors and to turn off all outside lights.

It's difficult to get good information about what is happening since legacy American media is largely ignoring it (preferring instead to cover US domestic partisan politics 24/7) while social media is filled with loud Indian and Pakistani nationalists making misleading and often false claims.

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The town of Poonch (population about 26,000) in Indian Jammu and Kashmir near the line of control with Pakistan is reportedly being heavily shelled from the Pakistani side. Civilian dead and wounded are reported.

Commercial aircraft are being told to divert away from the Pakistani cities of Sialkot and Lahore, to the capital of Islamabad instead. The Pakistani government says that Pakistani cities are being attacked by Indian drones.

Multiple explosions heard near Lahore airport. It appears that the airport came under drone attack. Photos of the remains of a drone suggest that it might have been British made.

There's reports of panic among civilians in Lahore and the Pakistani army is patrolling the city streets.

Al Quaeda is calling for jihad against India

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[stryder]

UAV Engines Limited
https://find-and-update.company-informat...y/02691211
Not really a true British company, probably hires people on Visas, Has had Indian and Israeli Directors.

UAV parts however doesn't necessarily make a whole UAV, rest could of been machine shopped closer to the attack location (similar to whats been happening in the Sudan etc)

[Yazata]

Pakistani general Ahmed Sharif held an emergency press conference about 10 minutes ago where he said that nine Pakistani cities had been attacked by Indian drones (the cities airports apparently). He said that several of the attacks were ongoing as he spoke.

Commercial aircraft heading to Pakistan holding or turning around.

[Image: GqZvElkWYAAjS5q?format=jpg&name=4096x4096]

[Yazata]

The US consulate in Lahore Pakistan says:

[Image: GqbxewFWgAApv_h?format=jpg&name=large]

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Both sides appear to be conducting drone attacks, without a great deal of success in either case. The drone attacks are causing little damage but they are keeping opposing air defenses busy and are disrupting civilian air travel in all of Pakistan and in western India.

[Image: Gqa27b_XYAAODU4?format=jpg&name=4096x4096]

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UAV Engines Limited
https://find-and-update.company-informat...y/02691211
Not really a true British company, probably hires people on Visas, Has had Indian and Israeli Directors.

UAV parts however doesn't necessarily make a whole UAV, rest could of been machine shopped closer to the attack location (similar to whats been happening in the Sudan etc)

The Indian drones are reported to be Israeli-made Harop loitering munitions, which apparently employ engines manufactured in the UK.

[Yazata]

Indian TV coverage is very excited. (I get exhausted quickly listening to all those presenters shouting in their thick Indian accents.)

They report that several large groups of the Pakistani terrorist militants tried to infiltrate across the line of control into Indian Kashmir, but were detected and repelled by the Indian army.

Another Pakistani jet was shot down over Jaisalmer, its pilot ejected safely and was taken into custody.

The headquarters of the Indian northern command is on high alert after the Pakistanis launched an unsuccessful drone attack against it. This seems to be part of the latest wave of Pakistani drone attacks aimed at Indian military installations this time. The TV says that India had been holding back from attacking Pakistani military installations, for fear of escalation, but that they have now targeted the Pakistani air defense system.

Air raid sirens are sounding in Jammu and Indian anti-air defenses are active.

Anti-aircraft guns are firing at Lahore main airport in Pakistan.

Indian TV is excitedly saying that 26 Indian navy warships have hurredly left port.

US State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce says that the United States totally condemns terrorism and the terrorist attack that started this. But right now, the most important thing is for cooler heads to prevail and the back and forth cycle of escalation between these two nuclear armed adversaries has to stop.

Indian TV says that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio called his Pakistani counterpart and "read him the riot act", demanding that Pakistan control their terrorist militants.

Pundits on Indian TV say that if the Indian navy attacks the Pakistani naval base in Karachi and destroys their smaller navy, the fear is that Pakistan might consider that their nuclear red-line. So the consensus was that the Indian navy might try to enforce a blockade.

Still almost nothing about any of this on the American cable news channels

Unconfirmed reports that Pakistan has completely shut down the internet in Pakistan!

X says that India has demanded that X shut down a whole list of accounts that India apparently considers subversive and pro-Pakistani. X opposes this move on free speech principles, but legally has to comply. So the accounts will no longer be visible in India but will continue to be visible everywhere else.

Turkey has announced support for Pakistan and at least one Turkish cargo plane has landed in Pakistan carrying Turkish made arms (Turkey is a major drone manufacturer).

Confirmed that India shot down another Pakistani jet near Pathankot. Some of the Indian media is claiming that this one was a US made F16.

[Yazata]

All schools, colleges and universities in the Indian state of Punjab are closed.

Air raid sirens in Jodhpur.

Several Indian media outlets are reporting a large explosion near the Pakistani prime minister's residence in the capital of Islamabad. Currently unconfirmed, but if true this would be a major escalation.

Multiple reports that Baloch militants have been pulling down Pakistani flags in Baluchistan in far southwest Pakistan and raising their own separatist movement flags. Reports of fighting between Baloch militants and Pakistani security forces in the Pakistani city of Quetta appear to be confirmed. The Indians are cheering this but it's dangerous. If Pakistan's rulers start to fear that Pakistan is falling apart, they might panic and do something desperate.

[C C]

All schools, colleges and universities in the Indian state of Punjab are closed.

Air raid sirens in Jodhpur

Blame the trend on the Russia-Ukraine war, maybe. It seems that nuclear weapon countries have lost their fear of annihilating each other. "We can whack them all we want. They'll never do it."

[Yazata]

Vice President JD Vance says:

"What we can do is try to encourage these folks to deescalate a little bit, but we're not going to get involved in the middle of a war that's fundamentally none of our business and has nothing to do with America's ability to control it. You know, America can't tell the Indians to lay down their arms. We can't tell the Pakistanis to lay down their arms. And so, we're going to continue to pursue this thing through diplomatic channels. Our hope and our expectation is that this is not going to spiral into a broader regional war or, God forbid, a nuclear conflict. We are worried about these things. The job of the cooler heads in India and Pakistan is to make sure that this doesn't become a nuclear war and if it happens, it will be disastrous but right now we don't think it is going to happen."

[Yazata]

Not only is Turkey flying in planeloads of armaments, a Turkish warship has also been sent to support Pakistan. Turkey is one of our NATO "allies" and has a very large, well equipped and capable military by south Asian standards. They also have a growing domestic arms industry.