By PRABHJOT GILL, SHEIKH SAALIQ and MUNIR AHMED, Associated Press

ATTARI, India (AP) — Pakistan said Wednesday it had “credible intelligence” that India is planning to attack it within days, as soldiers exchanged gunfire along borders and Pakistanis heeded New Delhi’s orders to leave the country following last week’s deadly attack in Indian-controlled Kashmir.

India’s moves to punish Pakistan after accusing it of backing the attack in Pahalgam, which Islamabad denies, have driven tensions between the nuclear-armed rivals to their highest point since 2019, when they came close to war after a suicide car bombing in Kashmir. The region is split between India and Pakistan and claimed by both in its entirety.

Calls for de-escalation

Pakistan said the intelligence shows that India plans military action against it in the next 24 to 36 hours “on the pretext of baseless and concocted allegations of involvement.”

There was no immediate comment from Indian officials. However, Indian government officials said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has “given complete operational freedom to the armed forces to decide on the mode, targets and timing of India’s response to the Pahalgam massacre.” They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive deliberations.

Last week’s attack was claimed by a previously unknown militant group calling itself the Kashmir Resistance. New Delhi describes all militancy in Indian-controlled Kashmir as Pakistan-backed terrorism. Pakistan denies this, and many Muslim Kashmiris consider the militants to be part of a homegrown freedom struggle.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, in separate phone calls with India and Pakistan, stressed the need to “avoid a confrontation that could result in tragic consequences.” The U.S. State Department also called for de-escalation and said Secretary of State Marco Rubio would be speaking to the Indian and Pakistani foreign ministers.

Pakistanis forced to leave

The deadline for Pakistani citizens to leave India, with exceptions for those with medical visas, passed on Sunday, but many families were still scrambling to the border crossing in Attari town in northern Punjab state.

Some arrived on their own. Others were being deported by police.

“We have settled our families here. We request the government not to uproot our families,” said Sara Khan, a Pakistani who was ordered back without her husband, Aurangzeb Khan, who holds an Indian passport. She carried her 14-day-old child and said she had been living in Indian-controlled Kashmir since 2017.

“They (Indian authorities) told me you are illegal and you should go,” said Khan, while waiting on the Indian side of the border crossing.

Tensions between India and Pakistan have escalated after gunmen killed 26 people, most of them Indian tourists, near the resort town of Pahalgam.

The massacre set off tit-for-tat diplomatic measures that included the cancellation of visas and a recall of diplomats. New Delhi suspended a crucial water-sharing treaty with Islamabad and ordered its border shut with Pakistan. In response, Pakistan has closed its airspace to Indian airlines.

Cross-border exchanges of gunfire between soldiers have increased along the Line of Control, the de facto frontier that separates Kashmiri territory between the two rivals.

Fire along the frontier

On Wednesday, India and Pakistan accused each other of initiating the gunfire.

Pakistan’s state-run media said Indian forces violated the ceasefire agreement along the Line of Control by initiating fire with heavy weapons. According to Pakistan Television, Pakistani troops returned fire after coming under attack overnight in the Mandal sector of Pakistan-controlled Kashmir.

Meanwhile, the Indian army said it responded to “unprovoked” small arms fire from Pakistan in the Naushera, Sunderbani and Akhnoor sectors of Indian-controlled Kashmir.

The incidents could not be independently verified. In the past, each side has accused the other of starting border skirmishes in the Himalayan region.

India’s cabinet committee on security, headed by Modi, met Wednesday. It was the second such meeting since the attack.

Witness accounts

At least three tourists who survived told The Associated Press that the gunmen singled out Hindu men and shot them from close range. The dead also included a Nepalese citizen and a local Muslim pony ride operator.

Aishanya Dwivedi, whose husband was killed, said a gunman approached the couple and challenged him to recite the Islamic declaration of faith. Her husband replied that he was Hindu, and the attacker shot him “point blank in the head,” she said.

“He was on my lap. I was soaked in his blood,” Dwivedi said.

Saaliq reported from New Delhi. Ahmed reported from Islamabad. Associated Press writer Rajesh Roy in New Delhi contributed to this report.