Pakistan is expecting military action from India days after a bloody terror attack in Pahalgam, its defence minister was quoted as saying by news agency Reuters on Monday.
According to the news report, Khawaja Muhammad Asif said a military strike by India was imminent in the aftermath of the killing of tourists in Jammu and Kashmir last week.
"We have reinforced our forces because it is something which is imminent now. So in that situation, some strategic decisions have to be taken, so those decisions have been taken," Asif told Reuters in an interview at his office in Islamabad.
Tensions have been high between the two nuclear-armed nations since the attack that killed 26 tourists and triggered outrage across the country and beyond. There have been several calls for action against Pakistan for sponsoring the terror strike.
Asif said India's rhetoric was ramping up and that Pakistan's military had briefed the government on the possibility of an Indian attack. He did not go into further details on his reasons for thinking an incursion was imminent.
After the Pahalgam attack, the investigation pointed out two suspected terrorists as Pakistan nationals. Islamabad has denied any role and called for a neutral investigation.
Asif said Pakistan was on high alert and that it would only use its arsenal of nuclear weapons if "there is a direct threat to our existence".
In the backdrop of the rising tensions, Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Saturday said that Islamabad is ready for a “neutral investigation” into the attack.
Addressing a ceremony at a military academy in Abbottabad, Sharif said, “Pakistan is open to participating in any neutral, transparent and credible investigation.”
However, he also asserted that Pakistani forces remain "fully capable and prepared to defend the country's sovereignty and its territorial integrity against any misadventure as clearly demonstrated by its measured yet resolute response to India's reckless incursion in February 2019".
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