Indians should ‘stand as rock’ against enemy: PM Modi

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi has urged his countrymen to “stand as a rock” in the face of the “enemy,” as recent cross-border military tensions with neighboring Pakistan fuel fears of an all-out conflict between the two nuclear-armed rivals.

The standoff between the two neighboring countries has escalated dramatically since February 14, when Indian paramilitary forces on the New Delhi-controlled side of Kashmir were hit by a deadly bomb attack orchestrated by Pakistan-based militants.

The tensions reached a peak on Tuesday, when India said it had conducted “preemptive” airstrikes against what it described as a militant training camp in Pakistan’s Balakot.

Both Islamabad and New Delhi have also claimed to have shot down each other’s fighter planes near the disputed border of Kashmir, accusing one another of violating each other’s airspace.

Pakistan denies that it has lost any warplanes but says it has captured at least one Indian pilot after shooting down his fighter jet.

PressTV-‘Pakistan shoots down Indian warplanes, captures pilots’

Fresh escalations fuel fears of the two nuclear-armed neighbors slipping back into a full-fledged war over disputed Kashmir.

“In the face of their objective, every Indian should stand as a wall, as a rock,” Modi said, referring to unspecified enemies.

“The entire country is one today and standing with our soldiers. The world is looking at our collective will and we have faith in our forces’ capacity,” the Indian prime minister further said, adding, “India will live as one. India will work as one. India will grow as one. India will fight as one. India will win as one.”

Modi, however, did not mention Pakistan by name during his address to party workers, in his first remarks since the two countries claimed to have shot one another’s warplanes.

Pakistan argues that its incursion across the heavily-militarized border was in response to Indian fighter jets bombing Balakot, well inside its territory, on February 26.

Pakistan ‘ready to free Indian pilot’

Separately on Thursday, Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry said that it was prepared to release the captured Indian pilot if doing so would settle growing tensions with India.

“We are ready to hand over the Indian pilot if it leads to de-escalation,” a ministry spokesperson told AFP, attributing the statement to Foreign Minister Shah Mehmoud Qureshi.

On Wednesday, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan offered talks with India and said better sense should prevail in relations between the two countries. “Let us open the corridor of negotiations and settle all outstanding issues.”

PressTV-India-Pakistan flare-up sends Kashmir folks to bunkers

In the Pakistani-administered Kashmir, at least 2,000 people have left their homes.

Kashmir has been split between India and Pakistan since partition in 1947. Both countries claim all of Kashmir and have fought three wars over the territory.

Indian troops are in constant clashes with armed groups seeking Kashmir’s independence or its merger with Pakistan.

India regularly accuses Pakistan of arming and training militants and allowing them across the restive frontier in an attempt to launch attacks. Pakistan strongly denies the allegation.

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