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Pakistan jets take to the skies

ISLAMABAD: Fighter jets of the Pakistan Air Force thundered over the capital, Rawalpindi and Lahore all of Monday afternoon, heightening people’s fears that a war was about to break out any minute with India.

A brief statement from the Pakistan Air Force said that “in view of the current environment, the PAF has enhanced its vigilance.”

The roar of the jets had people reaching for their phones to find out if something serious was afoot. Callers flooded newspapers and television stations for information.

The sorties fuelled rumours that the jets were scrambling to counter an imminent Indian air-strike on Muridke, headquarters of the Jamat-ud-dawah, near Lahore.

Analysts interviewed by television channels said the rising pitch of the statements by Indian leaders indicated New Delhi was seriously preparing for a strike against Pakistan.

Television channels here gave prominent coverage to External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee’s remark to journalists in New Delhi on Monday that India was “not closing any options.”

Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s statement that India was capable of giving a “befitting reply to those using their soil for abetting [in] and promoting terrorism” also got wide coverage.

Pakistan Army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani told the visiting U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman, Admiral Mike Mullen, that Pakistan “wants peace with India on equal level,” but “no compromise will be made on Pakistan’s defence.”