Islamabad/IBNS: Following the Indian armed forces' missile strikes in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (POK), Islamabad and Rawalpindi have decided to shut down their airspace completely.

Pakistan had initially closed its airspace only for flights owned, leased, or operated by Indian carriers.

However, after India's precision strikes, Islamabad and Rawalpindi (Pak Army headquarters) have announced a total closure of Pakistan's airspace for all countries, including its own civilian planes, media reports said.

Only some essential flights are reportedly being permitted.

The order, issued by Pakistan's aviation authority, states that Pakistan is now a no-fly zone for the next 48 hours.

Calling the move a precautionary measure, Pakistan has vowed to retaliate.

Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif met the national security council earlier in the day to deliberate on what Pakistan's reaction should be.

On a different note, Pakistan Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said his nation is ready to 'wrap up' the tension if India backs down.

Speaking to Bloomberg, Asif said: "This has been initiated by India. If India is ready to back down, they have taken the initiative, we have just responded. We have been saying that we will never initiate anything hostile towards India."

"If India backs down, we will definitely wrap up these things," he said.

Tension between India and Pakistan escalated following the recent terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam, where armed terrorists gunned down 26 people, mostly non-Muslim tourists.

Operation Sindoor

Nine terrorist camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) were targeted and destroyed in 25 minutes of Operation Sindoor, which was conducted from 1:05 am on Wednesday by all three wings of the Indian armed forces.

According to a statement by the Press Information Bureau (PIB), the operation was aimed at neutralizing terror camps actively involved in planning and executing attacks against India.

At a press briefing with the Army, India's foreign secretary Vikram Misri said, "The attack in Pahalgam was marked by extreme barbarity, with the victims mostly killed with head shots from close range and in front of their family...the family members were deliberately traumatised through the manner of killing, accompanied by the exhortation that they should take back the message. The attack was clearly driven by the objective of undermining normalcy returning to Kashmir..."

"Our intelligence monitory of Pakistan-based terrorist modules indicated that further attacks against India are impending. Thus, compulsion, both to deter and pre-empt. Earlier this morning, India exercised its right to respond and pre-empt as well as deter more such cross-border attacks.... These actions were measured and non-escalatory, proportionate and responsible. They focused on dismantling terrorists' infrastructure."

He added, "It was deemed essential that the perpetrators and planners of the 22nd attack be brought to justice. Despite a fortnight having passed since the attack, there has been no demonstrable step from Pakistan against terrorists' infrastructure in its area."