Pakistan holds drills amid rising tensions with India
RUSSIAN TROOPS TO TAKE PART IN THE FIRST JOINT MANOEUVRES
M ilitary officials are calling it a routine exercise, but the thunderous spectacle of Pakistani fighter jets touching down on a major highway on Thursday, with commercial flights suspended and traffic blocked for hours, has fuelled speculation that something much more ominous is afoot.
The display of military readiness has come amid an unusually tense showdown with India, following a terror attack on Sunday that killed 18 Indian soldiers in Kashmir. The air exercise led to the closure of commercial airspace over several regions of the country and triggered a sudden drop in the nation’s stock market.
Added to the speculation, Russian soldiers arrived in Pakistan yesterday to take part in the first joint military manoeuvres.
Several Pakistani analysts said official concern about Indian attacks was justified, given the high degree of tension and the especially deadly nature of Sunday’s attack. Indian press reports have speculated about possible strikes against what New Delhi calls “terrorist infrastructure targets”.
Shahid Latif, a former deputy air force chief, said it was important to remind India of Pakistan’s military and nuclear strength as a deterrent to any impulsive act.
Yesterday, India and France signed the €7.87-billion deal for Rafale fighter jets, that will give the Indian Air Force greater “potency” over Pakistan.
Amid heightening tensions, Hindu fundamentalist party Maharashtra Navnirman Sena set a 48-hour deadline for all Pakistani cine and tele-artists in India to leave the country.
In the wake of the recent Uri terror attack, Hindu fundamentalist party Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) yesterday set a 48-hour deadline for all Pakistani film and television artistes in India to leave the country.
Mumbai Police promptly responded, saying foreign artistes holding valid documents need not worry.
“We are giving a 48-hour deadline to all Pakistani actors and artistes to leave India, failing which Maharashtra Navnirman Sena will physically push them out,” MNS Chitrapat Sena (MNS Art Wing) leader Amey Khopak told Gulf News.
Khopak said there was “an anti-Pakistan” wave across India after the September 18 Uri terror attack, which left 18 Indian soldiers dead in Jammu and Kashmir.
‘Hijacking opportunities’
He threatened to beat up Pakistani artistes and those who cast them in their productions.
“Pakistani kalakaar toh maar khaayenge hi, saath mein jo yahan producer/director hair unko bhi peetenge [Pakistani artists will be beaten up and so will producers and directors who side with them],” he said.
He also warned they would not permit the release of any Bollywood films featuring Pakistani actors, including the upcoming Raees, starring Shah Rukh Khan and Pakistani actress Mahira Khan. Actors such as Mahira and Ae Dil Hai Mushkil star Fawad Khan are hijacking opportunities from Indian talent, MNS VicePresident Shalini Thackeray, said, adding that wherever films or teleserials were being shot with Pakistani actors, her party’s activists would go and stop them after the 48-hour deadline lapses.
Mumbai Police Deputy Commissioner of Police Ashwini Sanap told Gulf News that “The Mumbai Police has ordered bandobast [protection] for all foreign nationals [living in the city] with valid documents.”
Asked if there was any way the MNS would be stopped, she said “we have informed all police stations to keep a watch and ensure protection as and when needed.”