The Pakistan Army conducted full-scale military exercises amid rising tensions with its eastern neighbour, India, according to state-run media.
The war exercises include a "practical demonstration of modern weaponry given war strategy, where officers and soldiers actively showcase their professional capabilities during the drills," Radio Pakistan reported on Thursday, citing security sources.
"The primary objective of these war exercises is to deliver a strong and decisive response to any aggression from the enemy," said the state-owned radio station.
Security sources told the radio that the drills are taking place in Sialkot, Narowal, and Zafarwal areas of northeastern Punjab province, near the "working boundary" with India.
A flash point
Pakistan's top envoy to the US has urged President Donald Trump to help ease tensions with India, according to a media report.
In an interview with Newsweek magazine, Pakistan's ambassador in Washington, Rizwan Saeed Sheikh, described the Kashmir issue as a "flash point" and said Pakistan needs peaceful neighbourhood relations with India.
"If we have a president who is standing for peace in the world as a pronounced objective during this administration, to establish a legacy as a peacemaker or as someone who finished wars, defied wars and played a role in de-confliction, resolving the disputes, I don't think there is any higher or flashier flashpoint, particularly in nuclear terms, as Kashmir," Sheikh told the magazine.
Two heatwaves
The government of Pakistan-administered Kashmir has closed all religious seminaries in the region for 10 days, officials said, citing fears they would be targeted by Indian strikes.
Islamabad says it has credible intelligence that India intends to launch military action soon, with New Delhi alleging that the attack on tourists was carried out by Pakistani nationals with ties to Islamist organisations based there.
The director of Pakistani Kashmir's Department of Religious Affairs, Hafiz Nazir Ahmad, told Reuters that security officials feared Indian forces may target seminaries and label them as ‘militant training centres’.
The notification seen by Reuters, dated April 30, only cited a heatwave as the reason for the closure.
"Right now, we are facing two kinds of heat — one from the weather and the other from (Indian Prime Minister) Modi," Ahmad said of the notification, saying they did not mention the risk of attacks in a bid to avoid panic.
