Pakistan said on Wednesday it had “credible intelligence” that India was planning an imminent military strike and vowed to retaliate, as worries of spiralling conflict grew over a deadly attack in Kashmir.Relations between the nuclear-armed neighbours have plummeted since New Delhi blamed its arch-rival Pakistan for last week’s assault on tourists in Pahalgam in Indian-administered Kashmir, the deadliest attack on civilians there in a quarter of a century.Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave the military “complete operational freedom” to respond to the attack during a closed-door meeting on Tuesday, a senior government source told AFP.Pakistan’s government has denied any involvement in the shooting, and information minister Attaullah Tarar said overnight that “any act of aggression will be met with a decisive response”.”Pakistan has credible intelligence that India intends to launch a military strike within the next 24 to 36 hours using the Pahalgam incident as a false pretext,” Tarar said in a statement early on Wednesday.However, Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar also said Pakistan would not strike first.Leaders around the world have expressed deep concerns and urged restraint by the uneasy neighbours who have fought several wars.Muslim-majority Kashmir, a region of around 15 million people, is divided between Pakistan and India but claimed in full by both nations. About 1.5 million people live near the ceasefire line on the Pakistani side of the border, where residents were preparing for violence by readying simple, mud-walled underground bunkers reinforced with concrete if they can afford it. “We are cleaning the bunker to ensure that if the enemy attacks at any time, we are not caught off guard and we can bring our children to safety,” 42-year-old Muhammad Javed told AFP in the village of Chakothi.- De-escalation calls -India’s army said on Wednesday it had repeatedly traded gunfire with Pakistani troops for a sixth straight night across the Line of Control (LoC), a heavily fortified zone of high-altitude Himalayan outposts that represents the de facto Kashmir border.A Pakistani security source told AFP that two drones were shot down on Tuesday near the LoC “after violating our airspace”. Tensions have been rapidly mounting in the week since the Pahalgam attack, with tit-for-tat diplomatic barbs, expulsion of citizens and border crossings shut.Modi vowed last week to pursue those who carried out the attack and those who had supported it.”I say to the whole world: India will identify, track and punish every terrorist and their backer,” he said on Thursday.”We will pursue them to the ends of the Earth”.The bellicose statements have prompted worries of a spiral into military action, with calls for restraint from several nations.The US State Department said top diplomat Marco Rubio would call his Pakistani and Indian counterparts soon to urge them “to not escalate the situation”.UN chief Antonio Guterres held calls on Tuesday with Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar in which he “offered his Good Offices to support de-escalation”, his spokesman said in a statement.Sharif’s office said later he had urged Guterres to “counsel India” to exercise restraint, while pledging to defend Pakistan’s “sovereignty and territorial integrity with full force in case of any misadventure by India”.- Wanted posters -India and Pakistan have fought over the former princely state since their independence from British rule in 1947, with the border splitting generations of families.Rebels in the Indian-run area have waged an insurgency since 1989, seeking independence or a merger with Pakistan.Indian police have issued wanted posters for three men accused of carrying out the Kashmir attack — two Pakistanis and an Indian — who they say are members of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba group, a UN-designated terrorist organisation.They have announced a two million rupee ($23,500) bounty for information leading to each man’s arrest and carried out sweeping detentions seeking anyone suspected of links to the alleged killers.The worst attack in recent years in Indian-run Kashmir was at Pulwama in 2019, when a suicide bomber rammed a car packed with explosives into a security forces convoy, killing 40 and wounding 35.Indian fighter jets carried out air strikes on Pakistani territory 12 days later.burs-pjm/ecl/pbt

Since the start of the school year in March, Afghan boys have been required to wear new uniforms of turbans and long tunics, following an order to adopt outfits reflecting Taliban rule.The Taliban government’s education ministry cites strengthening discipline, masking social inequalities and promoting what the authorities see as true Islamic attire as reasons for the dress code change — a move that has sparked division.”Islam has preserved and strengthened the standards of modesty and dignity by paying attention to clothing. Sharia clothing defines the identity of a Muslim male and female,” the ministry said in its directive.”Sharia clothing is a means to preserve the dignity of the individual and protect the society against moral degradation.”Before the Taliban authorities swept back to power in 2021, the shalwar kameez and turban — traditional wear in the region — were uncommon in academic or professional settings. Since their return, the streets of Kabul and other areas have become more uniform, with many men opting for the monochrome loose trousers and long tunic.Once mostly limited to religious schools, the shalwar kameez with a turban or hat are now mandatory for all students, whether in public or private schools.Girls are already from a young age required to wear uniforms, often a long black dress over matching trousers with a white headscarf, but can no longer study past primary school in non-religious institutions.- ‘Turned away’ -Male students must wear a light blue shalwar kameez along with a cap up to the age of around 15, afterwards donning white and wearing a turban.The rule — ordered by the Taliban Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada — took time to be enforced and is still implemented unevenly across the country.In western Herat, student Nassir Ahmad said few pupils wore the new uniform at the start of the school year, but now they have no choice.”Our teachers told us not to come without it. If we don’t have the uniform and the cap, we can’t enter the classroom,” the 13-year-old told AFP.”I saw several of my friends turned away because they didn’t have a turban on,” said 17-year-old Qassim.He said morality police from the department for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice came to the schools to ensure the rules are being followed.In the Taliban heartland of southern Kandahar, several students told AFP they were pleased with their new clothing.Mohammad Wali, a student at the Mahmoud Tarzi school, said he was “very happy” to wear the “Prophet’s clothing”.”It distinguishes students from other people in the street,” said the 17-year-old.In the capital Kabul, some students wear the turban while at school, only to stuff it into their bags as soon as they leave. – Too expensive -Among teachers and school principals — also told to swap their suits and ties or casual clothes for shalwar kameez and a black turban — some disapproved of the measure.”Today, everyone looks the same. A doctor no longer looks like a doctor and a cook no longer looks like a cook,” said the principal of a Kabul school, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity.”The uniform does create discipline,” the principal conceded, having swapped out his suit and tie nearly four years ago to avoid trouble.But for some families, he said, paying the average 1,000 Afghanis ($14) per uniform is a burden in a country where 85 percent of the population lives on less than a dollar a day, according the UN.”If a family has five or six children, how are they supposed to manage?” he asked.Students now wear their new uniforms in often dilapidated schools with meager resources.In remote areas, lessons are sometimes held outdoors under the shade of a tree. The Kabul principal said at first he didn’t sanction students out of uniform, but now education ministry officials show up at his school two to three times a week to check whether students are complying.”People in Afghanistan have no choice,” he said. “They obey and cannot complain.”strs-cgo/sw/dhc