New Delhi: The State Department said U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio convened senior officials from India and Pakistan to weaken the crisis that occurred last week after the deadly attack on Kashmir.
Rubio urged Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar to eliminate tensions on Wednesday.
India vowed to punish Pakistan after accusing Islamabad of denying the attack.
Since then, nuclear weapons rivals have driven out each other’s diplomats and citizens, ordering the borders to be closed and their spaces are closed. New Delhi has suspended a vital moisture sharing treaty with Islamabad.
Soldiers on both sides also exchanged fires along the de facto border, and tensions between India and Pakistan have reached their highest point in recent years.
The Kashmir region is separated between India and Pakistan and is claimed. The two countries fought two wars and a limited conflict on Himalayan territory.
Tammy Bruce, a spokesman for the U.S. State Department, said in a call with Jaishankar that he expressed grief over last week's massacre. Bruce said he also reiterated the U.S. “commitment to cooperate with India with terrorism.”
Jaishankar said on Thursday that he discussed the massacre in Pahalgam in India-controlled Kashmir last week, in which 26 tourists, mostly Hindu men, were killed by Rubio, adding that “the perpetrators, supporters and planners of the attack” must “bring the attackers to justice.”
Rubio also spoke with Sharif on Wednesday night, “emphasizing the need for both sides to continue working together on peace and stability in South Asia.” It said Sharif rejected India's allegations and “urged the United States to impress India's comments and act responsibly.”
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth called his Indian rival Rajnath Singh on Thursday to show sympathy, sympathy for the loss of life and support for India's right to defend itself.
A statement from the Pakistani government said that Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani spoke with Sharif and said his country wanted to work with Pakistan to ensure the crisis was downgraded.
Sharif rejected India's attempt to link Pakistan to attacks on tourists, reiterating Pakistan's readiness to join a reliable international investigation into the incident, the statement said.
Public anger swells in India, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi vowing to “attack the end of the earth.” A Pakistani minister said Pakistan has “reliable intelligence” that India is planning to attack it within a few days.
Pakistan Army Director General Asim Munier reviewed military training activities of the eastern armed forces in Punjab Province on Thursday, the military said.
“The practice is carefully designed to validate combat readiness, battlefield synergy, and operational integration of cutting-edge weapon systems in close combat conditions,” it said in a statement.
“Let's have no ambiguity: any military misfortune in India will be responded quickly, unwaveringly and hard-workingly,” the statement quoted Munir as saying. “Although Pakistan remains committed to regional peace, our preparation and determination to protect the national interests are absolutely.”
Over the past six nights, Indian and Pakistani troops have exchanged fires, both accusing each other of opening fires first.
Indian troops said in a statement Thursday that it responded to the “unprovoked” small arms fires from Kupwara, Uri and Akhnoor departments in Kupwara, Uri and Indian-controlled Kashmir. The day before, Pakistan's state-run media said Indian troops violated the ceasefire agreement along control by launching a fire with heavy weapons in the Pakistan-controlled Kashmir Mandal department. These events cannot be verified independently.
In the past, both sides accused each other of starting a border skirmish in the Himalayas.
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