Pakistan’s most populous province has shut schools and declared an emergency after India launched airstrikes at multiple locations inside Pakistan following a deadly militant attack in the disputed Himalayan valley of Kashmir.
Authorities in the central province of Punjab, with a population of nearly 130 million, said doctors, medics, and rescuers had been put on high alert across the region after Indian missiles hit two locations.
Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has called an emergency meeting of his security cabinet, and the military said it had launched counter-strikes to target military installations inside Indian Kashmir.
“We have hit at least 12 targets in the Kashmir region,” a Pakistani intelligence source said, adding that a further escalation was expected.
Pakistan also closed its airspace for 48 hours following attacks from India, a spokesman for the Civil Aviation Authority said.
Flight operations at Islamabad and Lahore airports have been suspended until further notice, the spokesman added.
