MADRID, 14 (EUROPA PRESS)
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has announced the creation of a new specialized missile force within the army amid the fragile truce with India following the upsurge in violence that erupted following the Pahalgam attack last April.
In a speech delivered late Wednesday on the occasion of Pakistan's 78th Independence Day, Sharif explained that this new division will be equipped with "modern technology" and capable of "attacking the enemy from all directions."
"The command of the Army's missile force will further strengthen our conventional combat capability," the Pakistani prime minister stressed, without offering further details on when the division will be ready, according to the 'Daily Jang' newspaper on Thursday.
Pakistan and India have been disputing the region of historic Kashmir since 1947 and have fought two of the three wars they have fought over it since gaining independence from the United Kingdom on August 14 of that year.
Both countries claim the entire territory, which is predominantly Muslim. Rebel groups have sought to achieve independence from India through the use of force since the 1980s. In 1999, there was a brief but intense military confrontation between the two nuclear powers, and a fragile truce has been in place since 2003.
Tensions recently escalated following the attack in the tourist town of Pahalgam, in Delhi-controlled Kashmir, which left 26 people dead. The Resistance Front, an organization created in 2019 and linked to the Islamist armed group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), claimed responsibility for the attack.
The two countries confirmed a ceasefire agreement after carrying out numerous attacks on military bases for several days, a cessation of clashes that was initially announced by US President Donald Trump.
