NEW DELHI: The Pakistan military has carried out a major mobilisation of troops and assets following the Pahalgam terror attack.
Sources said the Pakistan Air Force is holding three exercises — Fiza-e-Badra, Lalkar-e-Momin and Zarb-e-Haidari.
“Apart from the three PAF exercises, the Pakistan Army’s Multan, Punjab based II-Corps has been carrying out war games for about a week,” said a source, adding, “They have been exercising with their frontline fighters including the F-16s, J-10 and JF-17 and have activated their air defence canopy.”
Pakistan’s Information Minister Attaullah Tarar claimed early on Wednesday, quoting “credible intelligence”, that India may carry out a military strike within the next 24 to 36 hours.
Tarar said this a day after PM Narendra Modi met Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, NSA Ajit Doval, Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan and the three services chiefs.
The armed forces were given the operational freedom to decide the ‘mode, targets and timing’ of India’s response to the Pahalgam attack, which killed 26 people on April 22.
The Pakistan Army has a total of nine corps level formations, of which the 2 Corps (Army Reserve South) and the 1 Corps (Army Reserve North) are their strike corps.
