Khawaja Asif warns of potential Indian strike along LoC amid soaring tensions

Defence Minister Khawaja Asif on Monday cautioned that India could carry out a military strike at any moment along the Line of Control (LoC), as diplomatic and security tensions between the two nuclear-armed nations escalate following the Pahalgam attack in Indian-occupied Kashmir.

“There are reports that India may strike at any point along the LoC… New Delhi will be given a befitting reply,” he told reporters in Islamabad.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has called for an international commission to probe the incident. “Such a probe would expose whether India itself or any internal group was involved, and clarify the truth behind New Delhi’s baseless allegations,” Asif said.

The minister accused Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi of “pushing the region to the brink of nuclear war” for political gains and repeated Pakistan’s longstanding allegations of Indian involvement in terrorism in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) and Balochistan.

“We had provided the UN with evidence in 2016 and 2017, including videos of India financing terrorism,” he claimed. He also linked the recent wave of terror in K-P and Balochistan to groups operating from Afghanistan, allegedly backed by India.

Asif further questioned the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party’s absence from a key security briefing a day earlier, saying, “I don’t know why PTI chose not to participate.”

He added that both parliamentary houses have passed resolutions on the crisis, and parties are free to call an All Parties Conference if they choose.