- Marco Rubio plans to speak with Indian and Pakistani officials to defuse growing tensions
WASHINGTON: In the midst of the simmer tensions between Pakistan and India following the attack on Pahalgam in the cashmere occupied by the Indians, the United States intervened diplomatically, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio to speak with the foreign ministers of the two nations to encourage restraint and prevent a new climbing.
Addressing journalists on Tuesday, the spokesperson for the US State Department, Tammy Bruce, said Washington urged the two parties to defuse.
“We hold the hands of both parties and we say, of course, not to degenerate the situation,” Tammy Bruce told journalists.
“Secretary Rubio thinks that diplomacy must take the lead,” said Bruce, noting that the secretary also encouraged other foreign national and ministers “to contact the countries on this issue.”
The tensions jumped between the two nuclear weapons neighbors following an attack in Pahalgam, located in Jammu-et-Cachemire occupied of Indian origin.
The attack, which occurred on April 22, cost the lives of 26 people, mainly tourists, by making one of the deadliest incidents in the region since 2000.
On April 23, India unilaterally suspended the Water Treaty in Indus (IWT), a critical water sharing agreement negotiated by the World Bank, which was held stable thanks to numerous conflicts between the two countries.
The next day, Pakistan retaliated by threatening to put Simla’s agreement in 1972 pending and closing its airspace with Indian flights.
India suggested that cross -border links may have been involved in the attack, although it has not provided concrete evidence. On the other hand, Pakistan has strongly denied any involvement.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif called for an independent investigation into the incident to determine the truth.
Meanwhile, the Minister of Information, Atta Tarar, warned in the short hours of Wednesday that credible information indicated that India could launch a military strike within 24 to 36 hours, using the recent attack by Pahalgam as a pretext.
The Minister criticized India’s approach, accusing him of assuming an “self-assigned role of the judge, the jury and the executioner” in the region, which was labeled as imprudent and destabilizing.
“Pakistan has suffered a lot from terrorism and understands the pain and the consequences of such violence,” added the press release, reaffirming the appeal of Islamabad to restraint and regional peace.
