Rising tensions between the two Asian countries following a recent attack in occupied Kashmir’s Pahalgam, the US State Department stated on Sunday that Washington was in contact with both India and Pakistan while urged them to work towards what it called a “responsible solution.”
One of the worst armed strikes in the disputed Himalayan area since 2000, the April 22 attack in Pahalgam claimed 26 lives, largely among visitors. Said to be responsible for the attack was the heretofore unidentified The Resistance Front (TRF).
While Pakistan has vehemently denied any participation, India has inferred cross-border links of the terrorists without providing any evidence. Shehbaz Sharif, the prime minister, has urged a neutral investigation of the incident.
“We are closely observing changes since this is a dynamic scenario. A US State Department spokesman contacted Reuters saying we have been in contact with Indian and Pakistani administrations at several levels.
The spokesman remarked, “The United States encourages all parties to work together towards a responsible resolution.”
Reiterating remarks like recent ones made by US President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance, the State Department spokesman also stated Washington “stands with India and strongly condemns the terrorist attack in Pahalgam”.
Publically, the US government has backed India following the attack but not criticised Pakistan. While Saudi Arabia and Iran have volunteered to arbitrate, Trump last week declared he was sure India and Pakistan will “get it figured out.”
While Pakistan remains a US ally, even as Washington’s relevance for India has dropped following the US departure from nearby Afghanistan, India is becoming more and more significant to Washington as it seeks to offset China’s growing sway in Asia.
According to Washington-based South Asia scholar and Foreign Policy magazine writer Michael Kugelman, India is today a much closer US partner than Pakistan.
“This may worry Islamabad that if India responds militally, the US may sympathise with its counterterrorism imperatives and not try to stand in the way,” Kugelman told Reuters.
Given Washington’s involvement and continuous diplomatic efforts in Israel’s military offensive in Gaza and Russia’s war in Ukraine, Kugelman also remarked that the Trump administration is “dealing with a lot on its global plate” and may leave India and Pakistan on their own, at least in the early days of the tensions.
Senior scholar at the Hudson Institute think tank Hussain Haqqani, a former Pakistan ambassador to the US, also claimed that there appeared to be little US inclination to cool the crisis at this point.
“India has a long-standing resentment about terrorism originating or backed over [the] border. Pakistan has long felt that India wants to split it. Every few years, both help themselves into a frenzy. This time, Haqqani noted, US interest in diffining things down is absent.
Former US State Department official Ned Price, under the direction of former President Joe Biden, warned that while the Trump government was providing this problem the care it merited, a belief that it will support India at any cost might intensify conflicts.
“The Trump administration is clearly eager to strengthen the US-India alliance, a commendable objective, but it is ready to do it at practically any cost.
“We could be in store for more escalation and more violence between these nuclear-armed neighbours if India believes the Trump administration will support it to the hilt no matter what,” Price said.
Tensions rise as troops keep firing.
After four years of relative peace, Pakistan and India also exchanged gunfire for a fourth night in succession over their de facto boundary, the Line of Control (LoC).
The Indian army said in a statement “During the night of 27-28 April… Pakistan Army posts initiated unprovoked small arms fire across the Line of Control”.
Islamabad did not immediately verify the firing; no recorded casualties were mentioned.
Since the incident, India’s military forces have carried out many operations all throughout the nation. Among these are regular drills for preparedness, according to Reuters citing a defence official.
The nuclear-armed countries have released a flurry of policies directed against one another since the tragedy.
India has suspended the important Indus Waters Treaty (IWT), a water-sharing pact negotiated by the World Bank that has survived decades of animosity and war.
Pakistan responded the next day by threatening to suspend the Simla Agreement and restrict airspace open for Indian flights. “Refrain from its reflexive blame game and cynical, staged managed exploitation of events like Pahalgam to further its narrow political agenda,” the National Security Committee (NSC) in Islamabad also urged India.
Hindu nationalist Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi promised on Thursday to hunt the assailants to the “ends of the earth” and declared that those who plotted and executed the attack will be punished beyond their comprehension.
Calls for military action against Pakistan have also come from Indian legislators and others.
Friday’s remarks by Defence Minister Khawaja Asif on Pakistan’s “ready to cooperate” in an international inquiry into the Pahalgam bombing also cautioned of a “all-out war” should India launch any attack on Pakistan.
The United Nations has encouraged the arch-rivals to display “maximum restraint,” therefore enabling “resolution of issues peacefully through meaningful mutual engagement.”
Many arrested as Indian troops carry out their crackdown
Concurrent with their search of about 1,000 homes and woodlands seeking for the attackers in India-held Kashmir, security personnel have arrested almost 500 people for interrogation, a local police official told Reuters on Monday.
The officer said, at least nine residences had been destroyed thus far.
The Kashmir Media Service had formerly recorded more than 2,000 arrests. According to reports, Indian soldiers had demolished seven Kashmiri ancestral homes with explosives in what detractors called “collective punishment.”
Political leaders in the state have urged prudence to guarantee the innocent are not hurt in the activities of the government against terrorism.
“It’s time to steer clear of any inadvertent actions offending others. Punish the wicked; show them no pity; but, avoid letting innocent people suffer collateral damage on X on Saturday.
Another former chief minister appealed to the Indian government, “to take care that innocent people are not made to feel the brunt as alienation aids terrorists’ goals of division and fear.”
