The U.S Pentagon on Wednesday urged India and Pakistan to avoid further military action, after tensions escalated following Wednesday’s incident, PTI reported.
According to the report, the Acting Defence Secretary Patrick Shanahan has been in contact with the Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, National Security Advisor John Bolton, Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff Joseph Dunford, and Commander of US Central Command General Joseph Votel regarding India-Pakistan tensions.
Acting Secretary Shanahan’s focus is on de-escalating tensions and urging both of the nations to avoid further military action, the Pentagon said in a statement, as per the report.
Furthermore, Canada has expressed ‘grave concern’ about the rising tensions between the two South Asian neighbors.
“Canada is gravely concerned about rising tensions between India and Pakistan. We urge both sides to exercise maximum restraint and avoid any further military escalation,” Chrystia Freeland, Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, said, the report stated.
As per the report, she called for a durable diplomatic solution to the existing problem between the India and Pakistan.
“Dialogue between India and Pakistan is needed to identify a durable diplomatic solution and maintain peace and security in the region,” Freeland said, according to the report.
“Canada remains steadfast in its support of the global fight against terrorism,” she was quoted has having said.
“We are committed to working with India, Pakistan and our international partners in this effort,” she said, PTI reported.
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The development occurs after Wednesday saw a terse exchange between India and Pakistan, with the former stating that it had warded intruding Pakistani fighter jets in Kashmir, shooting down an F-16 that fell on the Pakistani-administered side, while an Indian MiG-21 was lost in action, while the latter claiming that it had shot down the plane, which crashed in its territory, and displayed an Indian Air Force pilot it had captured.
Earlier on Tuesday, the Foreign Secretary of India had said that they have ‘struck the biggest camp of Jaish-e-Mohammed in Balakot in the pre-dawn ‘preemptive strikes across the Line of Control’.
“India struck the biggest camp of Jaish-e-Mohammed in Balakot and a large number of terrorists, trainers, senior commanders and groups of jihadis planning terror strikes were eliminated,” Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale had said.
Gokhale had added that India’s “non-military preemptive action” was specifically targeted at the Jaish-e-Mohammed camp.
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The outfit had claimed the responsibility of the Pulwama suicide bombing of February 14 in which 49 CRPF personnel were killed.
“Credible intelligence was received that Jaish-e-Mohammed was attempting another suicide terror attack in various parts of the country and Fidayeen jihadis were being trained for this purpose,” he had said.
“India has given proof many times seeking action against Jaish-e-Mohammed and others at terror camps so big, that they can train hundreds of jihadis and terrorists at any given time. But due to Pakistan’s inaction, this step was necessary and had to be taken,” he had said.
Earlier, India has said that they carried out a pre-dawn strike on a ‘militant camp’ across the Line of Control soon after Pakistan army said that Indian fighter jets were forced to leave after they crossed the LoC in Muzaffarabad sector.
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According to reports, the strike was carried out at around 3:30 Tuesday morning by 12 Mirage 2000 fighter jets. The aircraft dropped, according to reports, ‘1,000 kg laser-guided bombs on a major militant camp across the Line of Control, completely destroying it’, news agency ANI reported, quoting Air Force sources.
Earlier, Pakistan Army claimed that the Indian military planes “intruded” from the Muzaffarabad sector but were forced to go back after Pakistan Air Force “immediately scrambled”.
(With inputs from PTI)
