PAF jets land on motorway, fly over Islamabad amid tensions with India

Pakistan Air Force closed the Lahore-Islamabad motorway 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 the disputed Kashmir region.

Reuters reports that, on Thursday, traffic on the motorway 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 (exercise), yes. That is something they have been doing for years," PAF spokesperson 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 M1 is a 155-km east-west motorway, connecting Peshawar to Rawalpindi where the Pakistan military is headquartered. The 375-km M2 motorway is a north-south artery connecting the capital city of Islamabad with Lahore, which is only around 50 km from Amritsar.

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

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

However, the timing of the exercise just doesn't fit the statements.

The Inter-Services Public Relations and the PAF's media directorate are yet to make an official statement on the exercises, Pakistani newspaper, The Dawn reported.

Citing a senior military official, the newspaper said that "extreme vigilance was being exercised in view of the current threats from India".

The exercises come at a time when tensions between the two nuclear-armed neighbours are running high after the Uri terror attack.

India has accused Pakistan of being behind Sunday's attack on an army base that killed 18 soldiers in Uri.

Pakistan has rejected the allegation and accused India of apportioning blame before the incident had been investigated properly.

Later on Thursday night, a Pakistani journalist claimed that F-16 jets were flying over Islamabad.

"F-16 planes flying at 10:20 pm over Islamabad", senior Pakistani journalist Hamid Mir tweeted.

As the tweet evoked concerns and curiosity, he was quick to retweet a post that said, "dont worry it is just to assure people of islmabd that our forces are fully aware and ready to fight."

IMAGES: Pakistani jets attempt landing at the Lahore-Pakistan motorway.  PHOTOGRAPHS: Pak Defence Minister @KhawajaMAsif/Twitter