According to the US Department of State, Marco Rubio, the secretary of state, has urged India and Pakistan to work together to calm the country’s tensions following the recent attack in Indian-administered Kashmir.
According to the State Department, Rubio and Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, the prime minister of Pakistan, Shehbaz Sharif and Subrahmanyam Jaishankar spoke on different calls on Wednesday, saying they supported India in fighting “terrorism” and asked Pakistan to assist with the investigation of the attack.
The Pakistani leader urged Washington to “dial down the rhetoric and act responsibly,” according to Sharif’s office in a statement.
He expressed regret over India’s decision to “weaponize water” by abdicating the Indus Waters Treaty, which forbids unilateral reversals of its commitments to control river flows in disputed Kashmir.
Islamabad made the claim after it claimed to have “credible intelligence” that India planned to attack it in retaliation for the 26 men’s deaths last week in Indian-controlled Kashmir’s deadly attack.
After accusing Pakistan of supporting the attack in the Kashmiri town of Pahalgam, which Islamabad denies, the two nuclear-armed rivals have escalating tensions to their highest level since a suicide car bombing in 2019, India has taken action to punish Pakistan.
On Wednesday, New Delhi’s government announced that it would no longer airspace Pakistani airlines. Days prior, Islamabad had forbid Indian airlines from flying over its territory. According to a Notice to Air Missions (NOTAM), the government’s ban on Pakistani aircraft will take effect from April 30 to May 23.
Over the past six nights, Pakistani and Indian troops have engaged in small-arms fire, which New Delhi claims was started by the Pakistani side crossing their de facto border into Kashmir. There were no reported injuries.
India, a country with a majority of Hindus, accuses Pakistan of funding and supporting armed groups in Kashmir, which is a Himalayan territory that both countries claim is entirely owned by but largely governed by each of them. Islamabad claims that it only offers moral and diplomatic support for the Kashmiris’ request for self-determination.
In separate phone calls with Indian and Pakistani officials, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres stressed the necessity of “avoiding a confrontation that could have tragic consequences.”
Source: Aljazeera
Leave a Reply