Islamabad, Dec 10, IRNA ,Pakistan Wednesday put its Air Force and Navy on high alert shortly after Indian media reported the armed forces, especially the air force and the navy, have been kept in a state of war readiness.
While Indian Air Force (IAF) fighters have been mounted with bombs and kept in a state of readiness to take off within minutes, almost the entire western naval fleet is aggressively patrolling the Arabian Sea, Indian media reported.
Spokesmen of Pakistan Air Force Air Cmdr. Humayun Waqar Zephyr and spokesman of Pakistan Navy Captain Asif Majeed were quoted as saying that both forces are on high alert and are closely monitoring the situation, a TV channel reported.
Dunya TV quoted the Navy spokesman as saying that Indian navy has increased patrolling in its waters but the Pakistani ‘forces are closely monitoring the development and will give a befitting response’.
The TV also quoted the Air Force spokesman as saying that the Air Force is on high alert as it as been all the time.
“We are not concerned over Indian media reports,” the spokesman was quoted as telling the Dunya TV.
However the TV reported that the situation is not reached at a point of any confrontation.
Tension mounted after India released names, pictures and cities of the suspected gunmen who stored at least five locations in the Indian commercial center Mumbai and killed nearly 180 people late last month.
Mumbai police said that nine attackers, who were killed belonged to Pakistan, most of them were the residents of Okara district in Pakistan’s central Punjab province.
India had blamed a banned Pakistani group ‘Lashkar-e-Taiba’ for the attack and Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani confirmed Wednesday that two leaders of the group have been detained for questioning.
Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi and Zarar Shah, both considered to be senior leaders of Lashkar, are under investigation by the law enforcement agencies, the prime minister said.
Defense Minister Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar says that Maulana Masood Azhar, the chief of outlawed group ‘Jaish-e-Muhammad’ has also been put under house arrest.
Azhar’s group is also blamed for attacks in India.