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On Saturday Morning, Pakistani media reported that the Pakistani PM Shehbaz Sharif had called for the National Command authority which is responsible for making the operational decisions on Pakistan's nuclear weapons.
A few hours later, the Pakistan top brass retracted under pressure. Khwaja Asif the Defence minister insisted that no meeting of the National Command Authority has been called. Interestingly, the backtrack happened after US Secretary of state had telephone calls with Pakistan Army Chief Asim Muneer and the Pakistan Deputy PM and FM Ishaq Dar. Rubio also spoke to India's External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar. To keep their hands clean, Asif went one step further telling Geo News that the nuclear option is not on the table, but if a situation arises, the "watchers" would also be affected. He made the remarks to Geo News. "I am telling the world that this is not going to be confined to the region only; it could be a much wider [...] destruction. Our options are being reduced considering the situation India is creating," he said. Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also held telephone conversations with key political leaders to brief them on the current standoff. Pakistan has often held the Nuclear option as some kind of leverage in a crisis situation with India, with Pak PM Shehbaz Sharif making reference to Pakistan's nuclear capabilities in his recent address to the National Assembly. Tensions have been escalating between Pakistan and India after Pakistan caused a string of actions against India which were effectively responded to by the Indian armed forces. On Saturday in New Delhi, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri emphasised that the actions being undertaken by Pakistan against India are being seen as "escalatory" and "provocative" in nature. He made the remarks during a press briefing, where proofs of Pakistan's escalatory and provocative actions were provided alongside exposing the lies being peddled by Pakistan. While speaking to media, the Foreign Secretary said, "Pakistan's actions constituted provocation, escalation. In response India defended and reacted in a responsible and measured fashion." In a decisive response to Pakistan's aggressive actions along the western border and Line of Control (LoC), the Indian Armed Forces on Saturday targeted critical Pakistani military installations, including technical facilities, command and control centres, radar sites, and ammunition strongholds. Precision strikes were carried out on Pakistani military targets in Rafiqui, Murid, Chaklala, Rahim Yar Khan, Sukkur, and Chunian, as well as radar sites at Pasrur and Sialkot aviation bases, using air-launched weapons from Indian fighter aircraft. (ANI)
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