Image source,Getty Images

The UK Parliament on Wednesday debated the escalating tensions between India and Pakistan with members across parties appealing for UK efforts to aid de-escalation in the region.

Foreign Office Minister Hamish Falconer told the House of Commons that “our consistent message to both India and Pakistan has been to show restraint".

"They need to engage in dialogue to find a swift, diplomatic path forward,” Falconer said.

"It is heartbreaking to see civilian lives being lost," he said. "If this escalates further, nobody wins."

Falconer said all sides now needed to focus urgently on steps "to restore regional stability and ensure the protection of civilians”.

He also said the UK "will play its full part for de-escalation and diplomacy".

Pakistan has briefly suspended all flight operations at airports in Islamabad, Karachi, Lahore and Sialkot due to "operational reasons" on Thursday morning, the country's airports authority has said.

It comes a day after India launched air strikes on Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir in response to last month's Pahalgam attack in which 26 people were killed.

On Wednesday, there were reports of Pakistan shutting down several airports after the strikes. But the country's airport regulator later said the Pakistan airspace was open and "secure for civil aviation activities".

Image source,AFP

Image source,ANI

The Indian government is holding an all-party meeting in the capital, Delhi, to brief top opposition leaders about developments related to Operation Sindoor - the name India has given to the air strike against Pakistan.

Early Wednesday morning, India said it had struck nine sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir. Delhi said the strikes destroyed sites of "terrorist infrastructure" in Pakistan.

Pakistan has said only six sites were hit and rejected Delhi's allegation that it harbours militants. It has also vowed to retaliate.

Since news first broke yesterday morning, several opposition leaders have expressed support for the air strikes.

"Since the day of the Pahalgam terror attack, the Indian National Congress has categorically stood with the armed forces and the government to take any decisive action against cross-border terror," leader of the main opposition Congress party Mallikarjun Kharge tweeted.

Image source,Getty Images

Today's Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket match scheduled to be played at a stadium in Dharamshala in Himachal Pradesh state will go ahead as planned, authorities have said.

There was some uncertainty around this as the Dharamsala airport is among the more than 20 that have been closed in northern India until 10 May.

The Punjab Kings is scheduled to play the Delhi Capitals here on Thursday evening. Both teams reached Dharamsala a couple of days ago.

IPL chairperson Arun Dhumal told, external the Indian Express newspaper that this match will go on as planned. The logistics of the next match to be played here - on Sunday - are still being worked out. The Mumbai Indians team was scheduled to arrive in Dharamsala on Thursday.

"As far as the Punjab v Mumbai Indians game [on May 11] is concerned, it is still far away," he said.

Dhumal said the situation was dynamic and they would follow any advisory received from the Indian government.

Here's a quick recap of what's happened so far:

• Early Wednesday morning, India launched several air strikes on Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir
• Delhi said it targeted nine sites. Pakistan later said six locations were hit
• Islamabad has claimed several times that it shot down five Indian jets and two drones, which India has not confirmed
• Pakistan said 31 people had been killed and 57 injured in India's action
• India's army said at least 15 civilians and one army personnel were killed by Pakistani shelling on its side of the Line of Control (LoC), the de facto border that divides Kashmir between the neighbours
• Cross-border shelling continues at the LoC. India says it's responding to "unprovoked firing" from Pakistan's side
• India has held civil defence drills across the country
• The Indian government has called an all-party meeting today to brief political leaders on the strike
• Iran's foreign minister is in Delhi for bilateral talks

Image source,Getty Images

We asked Husain Haqqani, a former Pakistani ambassador to the US, for his perspective on the current crisis with India unfolding on Pakistan’s soil.

"The Pakistani military has already regained the popularity it had lost in its tussle with former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his supporters. Any conflict with India, especially over Kashmir, always rallies Pakistanis to their military," he said.

We asked how concerned he was that this could escalate into an unprecedented crisis - or whether he believes there’s already an off-ramp available.

"India and Pakistan have been through this cycle for three-and-a-half decades, and even after both turned nuclear in 1998 this cycle has continued," Mr Haqqani said.

"I hope that after a potential Pakistani strike, the off-ramps that are available will be used. But if the two sides get into further cycles of retaliation, we will have a bigger crisis on our hands."

Mr Haqqani said the Indian strikes were "predictable".

"It was predictable that India would respond, with a strike that was punitive but would not seek to escalate the situation."

Early Wednesday morning, India launched air strikes into Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir, two weeks after 26 people were killed in a deadly militant attack in Pahalgam town. Islamabad has denied any involvement in the attack and called the strikes "cowardly".

Meanwhile, world leaders are calling on both India and Pakistan to de-escalate as tensions continue to rise.

Here is a quick recap of what has happened so far as BBC reporters on the ground continue to bring you the latest updates.

 

02:47

More than 20 airports, most of them in northern India, have been shut until 10 May, according to media reports and travel advisories from airlines. There has been no official confirmation of this from India's civil aviation ministry or the airports regulator.

On Wednesday, major flight operators in India issued advisories for civilians affected by the closure of several airports after India launched air strikes on Pakistan. More than 400 flights were cancelled in India yesterday, and visuals showed passengers being sent back from many airports.

• The Indian government is expected to hold an all-party meeting at 11:00 local time (05:30 GMT) to brief opposition leaders about the air strikes .
• Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Aragchi has also arrived in India and is expected to meet Indian counterpart S Jaishankar and President Droupadi Murmu later in the day.
• Several schools in areas around the India-Pakistan international border in Rajasthan and Punjab and the de facto border in Jammu and Kashmir are shut today as well, according to media reports.
• Meanwhile, Pakistan's National Assembly will also reconvene at 11:00 am local time (06:00 GMT), according to an official post on X, external.

  What's happening today?published at 11:35

Image source,MEA

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Aragchi has arrived in Delhi to hold talks with officials here.

An Indian foreign ministry spokesperson said Aragchi's arrival was an opportunity "to review and enhance bilateral cooperation on the 75th anniversary of the India-Iran Friendship Treaty".

Aragchi was in Pakistan a day before India launched several airstrikes into Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir. In Islamabad, he met with his counterpart Ishaq Dar.

Iran had earlier offered to mediate between India and Pakistan in the lead-up to the recent clashes.

If you're just joining us, here is what we know about recent developments.

Two weeks after a deadly militant attack on tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir, India has launched a series of strikes on sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

The Indian defence ministry said the strikes - named "Operation Sindoor" - were part of a "commitment" to hold "accountable" those responsible for the 22 April attack in Pahalgam, Indian-administered Kashmir, which left 25 Indians and one Nepali national dead.

But Pakistan, which has denied any involvement in that attack, described the strikes as "unprovoked", with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif saying the "heinous act of aggression will not go unpunished".

Sharif on Wednesday said the Pahalgam attack "wasn't related" to Pakistan, and that his country was "accused for the wrong" reasons.

A former senior British diplomat has told the BBC News Channel he’s worried about a possible escalation that “could be quite fast”.

Tim Willasey-Wilsey, who was posted to Pakistan in the 1990s and is now a visiting professor at King’s College London, says Indian strikes on Pakistan “have actually been quite restrained”, targeting sites linked to “Kashmiri terrorist groups”.

But he says that civilians are killed in these strikes, and that “it’s in Pakistan’s DNA to respond”.

When Pakistan does respond, Willasey-Wilsey says it will be “very difficult” for them to justify their actions, as there are "no terrorist training camps in India".

“They clearly mustn't attack the civilian population,” he says. “I suspect what they might do is go for military sites ... but even that is going to inflame passions in India.”

“And then we will be on what strategists call the escalation ladder, that could really be quite fast.”

Former Scottish first minister Humza Yousaf and former Irish taoiseach Leo Varadkar have written a joint letter to the leaders of India and Pakistan urging restraint and de-escalation.Writing as public servants and "men with roots in the subcontinent", they called on Narendra Modi and Shehbaz Sharif to "resist the pull of conflict".The former first minister is of Pakistani heritage while Varadkar's father is from Mumbai.

Pakistanis are counting their losses after Wednesday morning's strikes which Islamabad says has killed at least 31 people and injured 57.

The strikes reached the Pakistani city of Muridke where locals gathered to assess the damage at a sprawling complex.

Recounting the night's events, one man told the BBC that India's bombardment lit up the night sky.

"The sky lit up and it felt like the sky turned red," he told the BBC.

The BBC's Umer Draz Nangiana has been on the ground in Muridke in Pakistan's Punjab reporting.

As India and Pakistan's militaries clash, the US is missing a key player: an ambassador in both countries.

A locally based envoy would have had an important role during such a heightened time.

"That person could be doing things on the ground in Delhi with both sides, being quiet in diplomacy and a quiet interlocutor," Tim Roemer, former US ambassador to India during President Barack Obama's first term, told the BBC.

Having ambassadors confirmed to India and Pakistan is "essential", he said.

"We have ambassadors that have been nominated or confirmed to Israel and China and South America ... India is right there at the top in terms of importance and priorities for the United States," he said.

US ambassadors undergo a nomination and confirmation process in the US Senate which can take time - the Trump administration has just crossed 100 days.

"We sure should prioritise making this one of the first kinds of nominations we have and I am kind of surprised that we don't have a person either nominated or in place yet."

India’s strikes, which the country says are targeting "terrorist infrastructure", are an attempt to contain the situation, says Chietigj Bajpaee, senior research fellow for South Asia at Chatham House.

“It’s trying to ensure that the conflict remains below the threshold of a nuclear conflict or a wider conventional conflict between both countries,” Bajpaee had earlier told the BBC News Channel.

But he adds “it remains to be seen” if the exchange of attacks between India and Pakistan “suffices in appeasing both countries' domestic political constituencies and hyper-nationalist foreign policies”.

He also points out that, unlike previous periods of India-Pakistan hostility when the US played a “prominent role” in de-escalating tensions, there is “limited external pressure” this time.

“We haven’t really seen anything of that nature so far from the US or any other countries.”

So, attempts to contain any escalation are “easier said than done”, Bajpaee says.

Our colleagues from The Briefing Room podcast have just recorded a new episode on the rising tensions between India and Pakistan, and consider whether the two nuclear nations might be on the brink of war.

It's a discussion with some of the BBC's correspondents in the region and other guest.

Image source,Reuters

A State Department spokesperson has told the BBC, the US is "closely monitoring" the skirmishes between India and Pakistan.

The spokesperson said US officials were in touch with the two sides and was urging the countries to "work towards a responsible resolution that maintains long-term peace and regional stability in South Asia."

Earlier on, our State Department correspondent Tom Bateman said the lack of an explicit American call for restraint since the Indian strikes reflects the US’s strengthening ties with India over recent years, and the relative isolation of Pakistan.

Last night, when the fighting began, Secretary of State Marco Rubio reiterated Trump's comments saying he hoped the clashes end "quickly" and will work "towards a peaceful resolution".

Two weeks after a deadly militant attack on tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir, India has launched a series of strikes on sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

The Indian defence ministry said the strikes - named "Operation Sindoor" - targeted what it called "terrorist infrastructure" to hold "accountable" those responsible for the 22 April attack in Pahalgam, which left 25 Indians and one Nepali national dead.

But Pakistan, which has denied any involvement in that attack, described the strikes as "unprovoked", with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif saying the "heinous act of aggression will not go unpunished".

Sharif on Wednesday said the Pahalgam attack "wasn't related" to Pakistan, and that his country was "accused for the wrong" reasons.

Kashmir is a flashpoint for Pakistan and India with two wars having been fought over it.

While it is claimed in full by both countries, they each administer a part of the region since they were partitioned following independence from Britain in 1947.