Pak lands fighter jets on highway, calls it 'routine' amid tension over Uri

Islamabad: Pakistan's air force closed a major highway on Thursday to let it practice landing jets on the road, in what it said was routine training not related to heightened tension with India after a deadly attack in Jammu and Kashmir.

The attack in Uri, the latest in a decades-long dispute over Kashmir, has raised new fears of military conflict between the nuclear-armed neighbours.

India has accused Pakistan of being behind Sunday's attack on an army base in Kashmir that killed 18 soldiers and said it had the right to respond. Pakistan has rejected the allegation and accused India of apportioning blame before the incident had been investigated properly.

On Thursday, traffic on Pakistan's busy main highway between Islamabad and Lahore was diverted to an older mountain road during the two-day air force exercise, dubbed High Mark.

"They landed on the road in this, yes. That is something they have been doing for years," Pakistan Air Force spokesman Commodore Javed Mohammad Ali said. The drill was needed "in case your runways get damaged or they are not available for you," he added.

The exercise was not ordered in response to recent tensions with India and the timing was a coincidence, he said.

"This exercise, High Mark, is not done overnight just like that," he said, describing it as "a routine training matter".

High alert

Another security official, however, said the Pakistani military was on high alert in case India decided to retaliate for the Uri attack with cross-border military force.

So far, India's military response to the Uri attack has been limited to skirmishes near the Line of Control.

The Indian army said on Thursday it had foiled two attempts by militants to infiltrate into Kashmir on Wednesday night.