Pakistan scrambles troops along border fearing military action by India

India Today

30-04-2025

Rattled by the likelihood and anticipation of an Indian military retaliation to the deadly Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 civilians last week, Pakistan has started mobilising its Army along its border with India and has kept its Navy on standby as tensions between the two countries continue to rise, sources told India Today.This comes amid repeated ceasefire violations by the Pakistani Army along the Line of Control (LoC) and the international border in Jammu and Kashmir over the last six days.advertisementThe heightened movement of Pakistani forces assumes significance after their Information Minister Attaullah Tarar claimed that the country had received "credible intelligence", indicating India may carry out a military strike within the next 24 to 36 hours.
The spooked statement from the Pakistani minister came a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday granted the Indian armed forces "complete operational freedom" to respond to the cowardly April 22 attack.As a result, the Pakistan Air Force has cut down on flying operations by over 50 per cent and only essential operations are being carried out to avoid any confusion in the airspace, sources added.According to source-based information, the Pakistani army is also moving its radar systems to forward locations in the Sialkot sector to detect possible Indian airstrikes. Electronic warfare detachments of the Pakistani army are also being deployed to forward locations to detect Indian movements opposite the Ferozepur sector.advertisementRecently, Pakistan set up a TPS-77 radar site at Chor Cantonment, just 58 km from the international border. The TPS-77 Multi-Role Radar (MRR) is a highly capable radar system and is used worldwide for situational awareness and air traffic monitoring.Also, PAF's aircraft were seen departing from Karachi for bases near Lahore and Rawalpindi in the north, screenshots posted on X from flight tracking website Flightradar24 showed.Meanwhile, India, on its part, has also been flexing its military muscles as the country's frontline fighter jets, including Rafales, and its top pilots took part in a large-scale military exercise, named Aakraman (attack), and the Navy demonstrated its operational readiness.Pakistan seems to be having sleepless nights after Prime Minister Narendra Modi vowed that India would "identify, track, and punish" every terrorist and their "backers" involved in the Pahalgam massacre and pursue the killers to the "ends of the earth".The situation between India and Pakistan has worsened in the past few days as Indian security forces have been busy in terror encounters in parts of Kashmir alongside continuous ceasefire violations by Pakistan along the LoC. On Tuesday night, things took an uglier turn as Pakistan resorted to an artillery offensive along the international border.advertisementThings have gone from bad to worse after India downgraded diplomatic ties with Pakistan by taking a slew of measures, including suspending the Indus Water Treaty, cancelling Pakistani nationals' visas, downsizing staff at respective missions, among others.