New Delhi:
The Indian Air Force will hold large-scale military drills in Rajasthan – along the international border with Pakistan – a NOTAM, or Notice to Airmen, issued this evening said.
The drills will begin 9.30 pm Wednesday and end around five-and-a-half hours later.
During this time flights departing or landing at airport close to the border will be suspended.
The NOTAM and the war games have been seen as India flexing its military muscles amid continuing tension with Pakistan over the terror attack in Pahalgam last month.
The war games will also take place as states conduct ‘civil defence’ drills across India.
Civil defence prep for military strikes by another nation have not been seen since the 1971 war with Pakistan. These drills will take place at nearly 300 locations in the country, including national capital Delhi and power plants, military bases, refineries, and hydroelectric dams.
READ | Fire Drills In UP, Air Raid Sirens In Jammu: How States Are Preparing
A ‘civil defence’ district refers to a geographical area having an armed forces facility or significant economic or public infrastructure, such as an oil refinery or a nuclear plant.
Hours earlier Prime Minister Narendra Modi met National Security Advisor Ajit Doval – for the second time in as many days – as speculation continues over Delhi’s military response.
READ | NSA Doval Meets PM Amid Tension With Pakistan Over Pahalgam Attack
The PM has held multiple meetings with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Mr Doval, Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan, and the Army, Navy, and Air Force chief since the attack.
Last week, at one such meeting, PM Modi reportedly gave the military ‘complete freedom’ to plan and execute an armed response to the Pahalgam terror incident.
Twenty-six people, mostly civilians, were shot down by four terrorists associated with The Resistance Front, a proxy of the banned Pakistan-based group Lashkar-e-Taiba.
India has also said it has proof of the Pakistan deep state being involved.
READ | Pak ‘One Of World’s Most Dangerous, Terror Trail In Moscow, London’
In the first round of responses India cancelled visas for Pakistan nationals and suspended the Indus Waters Treaty, or IWT, which divides the Indus River and its five major tributaries between the two nations. The three rivers allotted to Pakistan feed nearly 80 per cent of its farms.
Both countries have also shut border crossings and closed their airspaces to the other.
