India goes ballistic, hits own people

Director General of Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry on Friday said India had fired six ballistic missiles from Indian Punjab's Adampur, with one striking within the town itself and the remaining five landing in the general area of Amritsar, Indian Punjab.

Addressing an emergency news conference past midnight, the ISPR chief said that India was targeting populations in Indian Punjab, particularly Sikh communities, as part of internal conspiracies.

"India is targeting through its schemes, populations of Sikhs in Indian Punjab. All our sympathies are with Sikhs and minorities who are falling victim to its (India's) own internal conspiracies," said Lt Gen Chaudhry.

"This is a shocking development and provocation of the highest order, where India has now started firing ballistic missiles at its own population, which doesn't make any sort of sense. This is an act bereft of sanity," he added.

The statement comes as India, in a war-hungry frenzy, continues to beat the drums of conflict, blaming Pakistan for alleged attacks without offering a shred of evidence, even as Indian drones strike civilian areas within Pakistan.

Pakistan a day had categorically denied carrying out any strikes on Indian military installations, rubbishing New Delhi's accusations as a face-saving fabrication following domestic backlash.

The ISPR chief, joined at the press briefing by Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar, condemned Indian propaganda that claimed Pakistan had hit 15 targets across various Indian cities.

He revealed that India, not Pakistan, had fired four projectiles into Amritsar the night before, damaging its own infrastructure in what Islamabad sees as a self-inflicted blow.

Lt Gen Chaudhry also revealed that one of the Indian missiles had veered dangerously toward Pakistani airspace. However, it was closely monitored and did not pose a threat.

Earlier, Pakistan declared that it would not "de-escalate" with India without giving a response to the Indian missile strikes as Pakistan Air Force (PAF) for the first time presented irrefutable evidence of downing of five Indian fighter jets.

Since tensions between the two nuclear-armed neighbours escalated into a military conflict, representatives of the three armed forces jointly addressed a detailed news conference for the first time at the General Headquarters in Rawalpindi.

Director General Inter-Services Public Relations Lt General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry was flanked by Deputy Chief of Air Operation Air vice Marshal Aurangzeb Ahmed and Deputy Chief of Naval Staff (Operations) Rear Admiral Raja Rub Nawaz.

"We will not de-escalate—with the damages India did on our side, they should take a hit," the chief military spokesperson said when asked about the possibility of de-escalation.

Pakistan vowed to retaliate at a time, place, and manner of its choosing to India's missile strikes in the early hours of Wednesday targeting six different locations. The DG ISPR said at least 26 people were killed, all of them innocent civilians.

He said the youngest victim was just two years old, and castigated India for celebrating the killing of a toddler.

To another question about the current stalemate, the army spokesperson said the situation would persist as long as necessary to protect Pakistan's territorial integrity and sovereignty.

The DG ISPR said India was targeting civilians in Azad Kashmir and along the Line of Control (LoC), while Pakistan was responding by targeting Indian military positions, including a brigade headquarters.

He noted that the Pahalgam incident occurred at 2:20 pm, with an FIR registered merely 10 minutes later at 2:30 pm. In that short span, India reached the conclusion that Pakistan was behind – a claim amplified by its media.

The DG ISPR questioned the credibility of such swift conclusions and stressed the importance of examining the actual facts.

The DG ISPR challenged India to present evidence if it claims to have captured a Pakistan Air Force pilot.

During the press conference, the DG ISPR also played recordings of Kashmiris questioning India's security measures, with both Kashmiri and Indian citizens calling the Pahalgam incident an intelligence failure.

He pointed out that India immediately blamed Pakistan for the Pahalgam incident, targeting children, women and the elderly. He pointed out that India was using such accusations to divert attention from its internal issues and questioned the lack of evidence supporting its claims.

He also noted that the police station was a 30-minute drive from the site of the incident and added that India has been historically using terrorism for political purposes, often targeting innocent Kashmiris.

The DG ISPR said that India detains Kashmiris who accidentally cross the border and exploits them for its own agenda. He asserted that Indian forces routinely kill innocent civilians without offering evidence and deliberately target mosques and other places of worship.

He further noted that India was orchestrating acts of terrorism inside Pakistan, including openly admitting to sponsoring terrorist activities in Balochistan.

He claimed that India operates terrorist camps and seeks to divert Pakistan's focus from counter-terrorism efforts, with Indian media amplifying the narratives of terrorists active in Balochistan.

The DG ISPR also accused India of involvement in terrorism not only in Pakistan but also in Canada, supporting groups like Fitan al-Khawarij and conducting fake encounters in occupied Kashmir. He highlighted India's role in terror financing and called for accountability from the Indian government.

On Friday, a senior PAF official for the first time provided details about how Pakistan shot down five Indian fighter jets including Rafael.

AVM Aurangzeb said it was the biggest ever aerial combat in history. More than 100 fighter jets remained airborne for over an hour.

He said PAF was able to detect 14 Indian Rafael through their electronic IDs the moment they took off. Pakistan's 40 fighter jets were airborne to defend the country's air space. He said initially instructions were only to deter.

However, he said when it was established that Indian jets were going to attack, that was when rules of engagements changed from deter to "assured kill, deny own loss".

AVM Aurangzeb provided the exact timeline when Pakistan shot down Indian jets and their locations. He also ran a recording of radio transmission of one of the leaders of Rafael squadrons, clearly establishing that one of his team members went missing.

"We have the exact details because you cannot conjure up things in the modern battlefield. You have an electronic ID. The aircraft gets picked up by his data link as soon as you put on your radar," he explained.

"I must say that it is not the equipment that matters all the time. It is the training, it is the leadership that gives you the direction and the ownership that it shows, that's what matters and the training," he said.

"The operational competence that the whole formation has, I hope they are slow learners. But I think they can get the drift of not doing it again," AVM Aurangzeb added.