Pakistan’s defence minister, Khawaja Asif, said on Saturday that going nuclear is not now an option as Indian and Pakistani forces struck one another’s infrastructure, intensifying the already severe clashes.

“The nuclear option is not yet a viable option. But if the issue arises, the ‘watchers’ would also be impacted,” Khawaja Asif, Pakistan’s defence minister, told Geo News.

“I am informing the world that this is a disaster and that it may not be limited to this area alone. Given the predicament India is causing, we are having fewer alternatives,” Asif said.

According to Asif, the National Command Authority has not summoned a meeting.

The NCA has the authority to decide how to use Pakistan’s nuclear weapons.

After the Indian military launched precise attacks on terror launchpads in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) on Wednesday in retaliation for the April 22 Pahalgam attack, which had cross-border connections, tensions between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan escalated.

The Indian defence ministry said the enemy’s efforts to strike critical assets, such as airports and air bases, were effectively prevented. Pakistan launched a new round of drone assaults on 26 areas in India for the second night in a row on Friday, ranging from Jammu and Kashmir to Gujarat.

Pakistan said early Saturday that Indian drones and missiles had struck its three air sites.