India threatened to fire at least six missiles at Pakistan at one stage of the hostilities between India and Pakistan last month, and Islamabad said it would respond with its own missile strikes “three times over”, according to Western diplomats and government sources in New Delhi, Islamabad and Washington.
A government official, however, said India was not aware of any missile threat issued to Pakistan.
Hours after Pakistan downed an Indian plane and captured its pilot, National Security Adviser Ajit Doval spoke over a secure line to Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence chief Asim Munir to tell him India was not going to back off, sources said.
Mr. Doval’s office did not respond to a request for comment. Pakistan’s military declined to comment. A Pakistani Minister and a Western diplomat in Islamabad separately confirmed the Indian threat. They did not specify who delivered the threat or who received it. “We said if you will fire one missile, we will fire three,” the Minister said. .
Published - March 17, 2019 09:51 pm IST
