US urges India, Pak ‘not to escalate’ tensions

Washington: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio called on India and Pakistan to “not escalate” the situation and plans to convey the same message in phone calls to his counterparts in the two countries, Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and Pakistani foreign minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar respectively.

The US also urges other world leaders to deliver the same message to the two sides.

“We are reaching out to both parties and telling, of course, them not to escalate the situation, ” Tammy Bruce, the State Department spokesperson said, reading out a statement from Secretary Rubio on Tuesday. “The Secretary expects to speak with the foreign ministers of Pakistan and India as early as today or tomorrow.”

The spokesperson also said Secretary Rubio “is encouraging other national leaders, other foreign ministers, to also reach out to the countries on this issue.”

Bruce also said the US has engaged India and Pakistan at other levels as well, other than that of the foreign ministers. She did not give details. There were no updates from the state department on the calls.

Rubio’s statement came hours after news reports said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had given the armed forces “complete operational freedom to decide on the mode, targets and timing of our response”.

This followed a high-level meeting PM Modi chaired, attended by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, and the chiefs of the three services.

President Donald Trump had called Prime Minister Narendra Modi just hours after the Pahalgam terrorist attack last week.

The Indian Prime Minister had stated on that call: “India is determined to bring the perpetrators and backers of this cowardly and heinous terrorist attack to justice”, clearly indicating India’s desire to not only punish the terrorists who carried out the attack but also their backers, which is a pointer to Pakistan.

Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence offered US support for India’s effort to “hunt down” the perpetrators of the attack in a post on X.

IANS