UN offers help to defuse India, Pakistan tensions

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday called on India and Pakistan to exercise "maximum restraint" and offered to mediate in the face of rising tensions following the attack at Pulwama in Jammu and Kashmir that claimed the lives of 49 CRPF troopers.

“We are deeply concerned at the escalating tensions between the two countries,” said UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric.

"Guterres stresses the importance of both sides to exercise maximum restraint and take immediate steps to de-escalation,” added Dujarric.

The head of the UN received on Wednesday the Pakistani ambassador, Maleeha Lodhi, whose government has asked the organization to intervene in the current crisis.

Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi had appealed to UN Secretary-General to step in to defuse tensions, in a letter. “It is imperative to take steps for de-escalation. The United Nations must step in to defuse tensions,” said the letter sent on Monday and shared by the Foreign Office on Tuesday

Qureshi said, “It is with a sense of urgency that I draw your attention to the deteriorating security situation in our region resulting from the threat of use of force against Pakistan by India.”

The historic tensions between the two nuclear nations skyrocketed in recent days after New Delhi accused Islamabad of supporting the terrorist group that killed 40 CRPF troopers in a suicide bombing with a vehicle loaded with explosives on February 14, the worst attack in the region in 30 years.

In addition, nine people, including four soldiers and a cop, were killed in a gunfight in the disputed Indian region of Kashmir on February 18.

Following the February 14 attack, India announced that it will take all possible diplomatic measures to isolate Pakistan from the international community.

As a first step, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced that his country had withdrawn Pakistan's "most-favoured-nation" economic status and raised taxes on Pakistani imports by 200 per cent.

Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan warned India on Tuesday that his country would respond if attacked, a statement that was immediately condemned by the neighbouring country.