Asif said Pakistan was on high alert and that it would only use its arsenal of nuclear weapons if "there is a direct threat to our existence".

In recent years, Pakistan has cultivated many friends over Islamism and shared geopolitical goals. However, none of them is likely to join it wholeheartedly in any conflict with India in the wake of the Pahalgam attack.

Amid the ongoing tensions between India and Pakistan in the wake of the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam, Pakistan’s defence minister Khawaja Asif on Monday said that a military incursion by India was imminent.