00:00Welcome to the NewsHour. India has launched missile strikes against Pakistan tonight
00:05in an apparent response to a deadly terrorist attack in Indian-administered Kashmir two weeks ago.
00:11India blamed those attacks on Pakistani militants and struck nine targets in Pakistani-administered
00:16Kashmir. The disputed border region each claims as its own. Nick Schifrin joins us now. So Nick,
00:22what's the latest? Jeff, as you said, India says that it targeted terror sites in Pakistan-controlled
00:29Kashmir. But Pakistan says the strikes also hit in Pakistan's eastern province of Pajam. And these
00:35are videos from Pakistan tonight. You see one of those explosions. India calls this Operation Sindhur
00:40and says these strikes are, quote, focused, measured and non-escalatory. They didn't target any
00:45Pakistani military targets and that India has, quote, demonstrated considerable restraint. As you
00:51guys said, India is responding to a terrorist attack last month in Pahalgam, an Indian-administered
00:57Kashmir, that killed more than two dozen Hindu tourists. India accused Pakistan of backing that
01:03attack, a claim that Pakistan, of course, denies. But Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been under
01:08enormous domestic pressure to respond to this attack with the military. And analysts tell me that India,
01:15frankly, feels like the aggrieved party right now and is not worried about escalation. And so Modi had
01:20to respond in part because he has been claiming that Kashmir was safe.
01:24So based on your conversations, based on your reporting, is this likely to escalate?
01:28In a word, unfortunately, yes. Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif tonight said, quote,
01:34Pakistan has every right to give a robust response to this act of war imposed by India,
01:39and a strong response is indeed being given. Pakistan had already warned that any Indian military strike
01:46would be responded to with a, quote, quid pro quo. And tonight, Pakistan is describing these attacks
01:51attacks, as partially on civilians. Pakistan has said a child was killed, a mosque might have been
01:57struck. And so the analysts I speak to say that Pakistan's army chief, who is known by some as
02:04risk-prone, will be wanting to demonstrate a level of toughness, wanting to respond to this in a way
02:12that will go over and above what India has done. And so the fear among analysts tonight is very much
02:17that this will escalate. Okay. Nick Schifrin, our thanks to you as always. Thank you.
