- Title: Anxiety mounts on both sides of the border as India-Pakistan conflict heats up
- Date: 27th February 2019
- Summary: ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN (FEBRUARY 27, 2019) (REUTERS) (HD) (NIGHT SHOTS) PEOPLE WALKING THROUGH MARKET PEOPLE GATHERED BY WATCH REPAIR STAND (SOUNDBITE) (Urdu) RESIDENT OF ISLAMABAD, FAZLUR-REHMAN, SAYING: "Firstly, our prime minister's effort for peace, love and brotherhood is good. This is what we want, and the people on the other side of the border (India) want the same. God forbid, if they want to impose war, then we will fight it bravely." PEOPLE WALKING THROUGH BAZAR (SOUNDBITE) (Urdu) UNIVERSITY STUDENT, MOHAMMAD MAQSOOD, SAYING: "There should not be a war. Our prime minister gave a message of peace earlier and also today, he extended the message of peace for the second time in his address to nation. However if a war breaks out, then they know we will respond to it. We can not sit silent." PEOPLE WALKING THROUGH MARKET (SOUNDBITE) (Urdu) SOFTWARE ENGINEER, SWAT KHAN, SAYING: "We are ready if a war breaks out. We are ready not in 24 hours, but 25 hours to fight with them. Our armed forces are well prepared and we stand shoulder to shoulder with them." TRAFFIC ON STREET
- Embargoed: 13th March 2019 16:58
- Keywords: Border security airport security forces India pulwama attack India-Pakistan tension flights
- Location: ATTARI, PUNJAB, BENGALURU, KARNATAKA AND MUMBAI, MAHARASHTRA, INDIA / ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN
- City: ATTARI, PUNJAB, BENGALURU, KARNATAKA AND MUMBAI, MAHARASHTRA, INDIA / ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN
- Country: Various
- Topics: Government/Politics,Editors' Choice
- Reuters ID: LVA005A3D04LJ
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: As India and Pakistan's relationship becomes ever-more strained, people in both countries expressed an anxiety for peace between their nations on Wednesday (February 27).
Hundreds gathered at the Attari-Wagah border in India's northern Punjab state to witness the electrifying Beating Retreat ceremony despite the escalating tensions.
Speaking at the daily military ceremony on the countries' shared border, one visitor, Vibhuti, said she was sad to see a feeling of vengeance between India and Pakistan.
Across the border, Pakistani shoppers in an Islamabad bazar said that that the people in both countries wanted peace but if India imposed war, people would stand united with their armed forces.
India and Pakistan both said they shot down each other's fighter jets on Wednesday, a day after Indian warplanes struck inside Pakistan for the first time since a 1971 war, prompting world powers to urge restraint.
India stepped up security and shut several airports in the northern part of the country after Pakistani warplanes crossed into Indian territory over the disputed Kashmir border.
Operations at Indian airports have now resumed but a strong police presence remained in place throughout the day.
Tension has been elevated since a suicide car bombing by Pakistan-based militants in Indian-controlled Kashmir killed at least 40 Indian paramilitary police on Feb. 14, but the risk of conflict rose dramatically on Tuesday when India launched an air strike on what it said was a militant training base.
Pakistan and India have fought three wars since independence from British colonial rule in 1947, two over the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir, and went to the brink a fourth in 2002 after a Pakistani militant attack on India's parliament.
(Production: Salman, Waseem Sattar, Shahabuddin Shahab, Catherine Tilke) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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