Middle East Watch

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More than 100 million people could die if India and Pakistan began a devastating nuclear war, experts have warned.

An academic journal published in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists found tens of millions of people would perish “immediately” should tensions between the two countries result in nuclear weapons being used – while huge plumes of dust released into the Earth’s atmosphere could trigger famines that would affect “billions” around the world. It comes after India launched a barrage of ballistic missiles and drones into Pakistan early on Wednesday, killing at least 26 people. Pakistan described the strikes as an “act of war”, and claimed it shot down several Indian fighter jets in retaliation.

India fired missiles at Pakistan overnight in what it described as an anti-terror operation

Tensions have soared between the nuclear-armed neighbours over a deadly attack on tourists in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir, which India says was carried out by terror groups based in Pakistan.

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India fired missiles across the border into Pakistani-administered territory in at least five locations early Wednesday local time, killing at least one child and injuring two other people, Pakistani security officials said. India said it was striking infrastructure used by militants.

The strikes came amid soaring tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbors over last month’s militant attack on tourists in the Indian-administered portion of Kashmir. India has blamed Pakistan for backing the militant attack, which Islamabad has denied.

A spokesperson for the Pakistani Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that the strikes hit Muridke and Bahawalpur, and across the Line of Control in Kotli and Muzaffarabad, Azad Jammu and Kashmir. One of them struck a mosque in the city of Bahawalpur in Punjab, where a child was killed, and a woman and man were injured, one official told The Associated Press.

“India’s act of aggression has resulted in martyrdom of civilians, including women and children,” the spokesperson said. “This act of aggression has also caused grave threat to commercial air traffic.”

 

 

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A “tit for tat” border conflict between India and Pakistan exploding into all-out nuclear war should be “every sane person’s deepest fear”, a foreign policy expert has warned. India fired missiles into Pakistani-controlled territory in several locations late on Tuesday night, killing at least 26 people, including a child, in what Pakistan’s leader called an act of war. The country’s military said it struck infrastructure used by militants linked to last month’s massacre of tourists in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir.

Pakistan then claimed it shot down several Indian fighter jets in retaliation as two planes fell onto villages in India-controlled Kashmir. At least seven civilians were also killed in the region by Pakistani shelling, Indian police and medics said. The nations are two of the world’s nuclear-capable militaries. Prof Antony Glees, Emeritus Professor of Politics, Economics and International Studies at the University of Buckingham, told The Express that the fate of the world could well now be on a knife-edge.

He said: “Everyone knows that there would be no winners if India and Pakistan used nuclear weapons against each other, although it does not stop them from fighting awful conventional wars like Putin’s war against Ukraine. However, tit for tat conflicts can escalate.

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As Pakistan reels from the most extensive airstrikes on its territory from India during official peacetime between the two countries, and amid ongoing gunfire exchanges across the Kashmir border, observers worry about further escalation between the nuclear-armed neighbors.

But beyond bullets and missiles, there’s another weapon that India has threatened to use in the conflict that Pakistan has said would surely constitute an “Act of War”: water.

Among the targets of India’s early Wednesday strikes was Pakistan’s Neelum-Jhelum hydropower project, according to Pakistan’s armed forces. The strikes came just hours after India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that India would stop water from flowing out across its borders.

“Now, India’s water will flow for India’s benefit, it will be conserved for India’s benefit, and it will be used for India’s progress,” Modi said Tuesday.