Fully armed fighter aircrews at forward bases in Rajasthan and Punjab remain on standby for immediate combat operations. The Rafale multi-role jets procured from France, equipped with Scalp air-to-ground cruise missiles boasting a range of over 300 kilometers, could be called into action. India’s military airfields have heightened their state of readiness following unprovoked firing by Pakistani forces on the night of May 5 across eight sectors along the Line of Control in Kashmir, the newspaper said, according to Russian TASS news agency.
On April 22, armed men killed 25 Indians and one Nepalese national and wounded many more with machine gun fire in the popular tourist town of Pahalgam in the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. According to media reports, Indian intelligence agencies allegedly found evidence that Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) was involved in the terrorist attack committed by the Lashkar-e-Taiba group (outlawed in Russia). New Delhi and Islamabad have imposed reciprocal restrictive measures on diplomatic personnel, suspended bilateral agreements and closed airspace to each other’s aircraft. Both sides report firing along the Line of Control and retaliation.
MNA
