A day after India launched Operation Sindoor and destroyed terror camps in Pakistan, panic seems to have further gripped the nation as the Pakistan Army has evacuated residents from the border villages of 'Chak 95 HB' and 'Chak 96 HB' near Faqirwali in the Bahawalnagar district. The area lies close to the international border adjoining Rajasthan -- not far from Sri Ganganagar district.
This development comes just days after a Pakistani Ranger was caught crossing into Indian territory without authorisation. Bahawalnagar, due to its proximity to the Indo-Pak border, holds strategic significance and the sudden evacuation of villages suggests heightened military alertness in the region. Meanwhile, Rajasthan has been put on high alert amid escalating border tensions. Chief Minister Bhajanlal Sharma chaired a high-level review meeting to assess the state's preparedness and issued instructions to tighten security following Operation Sindoor.
'Pakistan is 'trying to avoid' full-fledged war'
Earlier on Wednesday, Pakistan Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said Islamabad is "trying to avoid" a full-fledged war, hours after India carried out a military strike on terror targets in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and Punjab province. "There is a possibility of expansion of this conflict into a full-fledged war, which we are trying to avoid," Asif told CNN's Becky Anderson on Connect the World. When asked what happens next, the minister said Pakistan "is prepared for an all-out war". "There is absolutely no doubt, because India is increasing the intensity, the stakes of this conflict...So we can't be caught with our guards down," he added.
Operation Sindoor
In a strong retaliation to the Pahalgam massacre, India's armed forces destroyed nine terror sites including that of Jaish-e-Mohammad and Lashkar-e-Taiba in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) using deep strike missiles in a 25-minute-long "measured and non-escalatory" mission in the wee hours of Wednesday.
Fifteen days after the Pahalgam carnage on April 22, the targets for the military response codenamed 'Operation Sindoor' included the Jaish-e-Mohammad(JeM) stronghold of Bahawalpur in Punjab province that is located at over 100 km from the Indian border. JeM chief Maulana Masood Azhar acknowledged that 10 members of his family and four close associates were killed in India's missile attack.
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