Pakistan’s envoy calls on Trump to ease tensions with India: report

Pakistan’s envoy to the United States has asked President Donald Trump to step in and help ease soaring tensions with neighbouring India in the wake of a deadly attack in occupied Kashmir, according to a report by Newsweek.

The April 22 attack in occupied Kashmir’s Pahalgam killed 26 people, mostly tourists, marking one of the deadliest assaults in the region since 2000. India has implied cross-border links without evidence, while Pakistan’s civilian and military leadership have rejected the accusation and called for a neutral probe.

Tensions have since spiked, with Pakistan reinforcing its forces and India’s premier granting “operational freedom” to his military. As Pakistan, in the early hours of Wednesday, said it expected an incursion from India within the next 24-36 hours, diplomatic channels from other countries have been engaged to prevent a possible military confrontation.

Pakistan’s Ambassador to the US Rizwan Saeed Sheikh told Newsweek yesterday that for a president “standing for peace in the world as a pronounced objective during this administration” — referring to Trump — there was no “higher or flashier flashpoint” than the Kashmir issue.

“If we have a president who is standing for peace in the world as a pronounced objective during this administration, to establish a legacy as a peacemaker — or as someone who finished wars, defied wars and played a role in de-confliction, resolving the disputes — I don’t think there is any higher or flashier flash point, particularly in nuclear terms, as Kashmir,” Pakistan’s Ambassador to the US Rizwan Saeed Sheikh told Newsweek.

“We are not talking about one or two countries in that neighbourhood who [sic] are nuclear-capable. So, that is how grave it is,” he said in an interview with the US magazine.

In his inaugural speech as the US president, Trump had said: “My proudest legacy will be that of a peacemaker and unifier.” A ceasefire, which has now been violated, was secured between Israel and Hamas following Trump’s election, and he has also been engaging with Ukraine and Russia to halt their war.

According to Newsweek, Sheikh contended that the Trump administration would need to pursue a more comprehensive and sustained initiative than in past US attempts to defuse crises that have erupted between Pakistan and India.

“I think with this threat that we are facing, there is a latent opportunity to address the situation by not just [focusing] on an immediate de-escalatory measure, or a de-escalatory approach,” the envoy said.

He called for a more durable and lasting solution to the Kashmir dispute, “rather than allowing the situation to stay precarious and pop up again and again at the next drop of a hat on this side or that side”.

During his interview, Sheikh emphasised that the Kashmir issue was the root cause of all troubles between India and Pakistan.

“Until and unless that final settlement is made and the resolutions dictate the prescribed solution is allowed to play out, we will all keep having these problems,” Sheikh said. “That’s why we insist on the United States and others playing a role in this situation and getting the de-confliction part activated,” he added.

If the long-standing dispute was resolved, the ambassador said, the population of South Asia could live in peace. “All the other issues between Pakistan and India are not major issues,” he noted.

“We do not want to fight, particularly with a bigger country,” Sheikh said. “We want peace. It suits our economic agenda; it suits our nationhood. It suits every objective that we have currently. But we want peace with dignity.

“We would not want to do it, but if it is imposed, then we would rather die with dignity than survive with indignity,” Sheikh asserted.

The call for Trump to play a role in reducing the tensions came the same day as US Secretary of State Marco Rubio was expected to speak to top Pakistani and Indian leaders.

In his phone call with Rubio yesterday, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif urged the US to press India to “dial down the rhetoric and act responsibly”.

In a readout of the call with PM Shehbaz, issued by the US State Department, Spokesperson Tammy Bruce said: “Both leaders reaffirmed their continued commitment to holding terrorists accountable for their heinous acts of violence.”

“The secretary (Rubio) urged Pakistani officials’ cooperation in investigating this unconscionable attack. He also encouraged Pakistan to work with India to de-escalate tensions, re-establish direct communications, and maintain peace and security in South Asia,” the statement said.

Meanwhile conversation with India’s External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, Rubio “encouraged India to work with Pakistan to de-escalate tensions and maintain peace and security in South Asia”.

Foreign policy ‘pivoting from geopolitics to geoeconomics’

Sheikh, reiterating Pakistan’s stance, rejected any involvement of his country in the Pahalgam attack, arguing that the fallout of such an operation could only serve to harm rather than benefit Pakistan’s interests.

“Pakistan is focusing on a matter of a deliberate, considered, pronounced shift of our foreign policy, a pivot from geopolitics to geoeconomics,” the envoy told Newsweek.

“We are focused on the geoeconomics side of our geography and our foreign policy. We are currently economically ascendant,” the official said, stressing that Pakistan only needed a “peaceful neighbourhood” in terms of the broader region.

Terming it “so outlandish, so far-fetched, to blame Pakistan” for the Pahalgam attack, Sheikh said Islamabad was awaiting evidence from New Delhi to prove a link between the incident and Pakistan.

Moreover, the envoy said the attack could be a “false flag operation” conducted to intentionally lay the blame on Pakistan. He acknowledged he could not yet back up the claim, but there was “enough circumstantial evidence, history, […] immediate backdrop and setting […] to entertain that possibility.

Speaking about India’s unilateral suspension last week of the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT), Sheikh warned that if there was “even an attempt or a semblance of an attempt” to stop or hold water, then it would be a declaration of war.

While contending that it was “physically impossible” to hold water, the envoy said “all bets are off if it’s about food security of 250 million people”.

“If you threaten me with this kind of a situation which is existential, what is your expectation of response?” he asked.

On the other hand, the Indian Embassy in Washington told Newsweek in a statement: “The terrorists behind the attack will be brought to justice.” It termed Sheikh’s remarks a “crude attempt to rewrite history and gloss over facts”.

PAF ‘fully prepared’ to respond to any aggression

Separately, state-run Radio Pakistan shared a video showcasing the Pakistan Air Force’s (PAF) military prowess and capabilities, including the JF-17 Block III that other countries have also bought from Pakistan.

“PAF remains steadfast to defend [the] aerial frontiers of Pakistan,” the video captions said.

Radio Pakistan reported that the PAF “fully prepared and determined to deliver a crushing response to any aggression”.

Noting that the PAF was equipped with the latest fighter jets, the report said the air force had “always fulfilled its professional responsibilities with utmost efficiency and dedication for the integrity of Pakistan”.

“The PAF is renowned worldwide for its technical expertise and courageous reputation,” it added.

More than 1,000 seminaries close in AJK

More than 1,000 religious schools in Azad Jammu and Kashmir were closed on Thursday as tensions rose between India and Pakistan, a local official told AFP.

“We have announced a 10-day break for all madrassas in Kashmir,” said Hafiz Nazeer Ahmed, the head of the local religious affairs department.

A department source said it was “due to tensions at the border and the potential for conflict”.

Neelum Valley, a popular tourist destination northeast of Muz­affarabad, has seen investment of millions of rupees in tourism and hospitality after the 2003 ceasefire between India and Pakistan.

“Until Tuesday, tourist arrivals hadn’t slowed,” said Deputy Commissioner Nadeem Ahmed Janjua.

“But after the federal minister’s late-night warning, about 70 per cent have left. The rest are still here,” he said, referring to Information Minister Attaullah Tarar’s statement that Pakistan expected a military action by India.

Tensions deepen

In a series of escalatory developments, Indian fighter jets patrolling above occupied Kashmir overnight on Tuesday were forced to retreat after the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) scrambled its jets.

State media had also said the Pakistan Army responded to overnight unprovoked Indian firing on the Line of Control (LoC) in AJK. Both countries’ troops have reportedly been trading fire along the LoC since the night of April 25.

On Tuesday, the Pakistan Army had shot down two Indian quadcopters after they violated the country’s airspace along the LoC in two separate areas of AJK, official sources said.

The same day, Modi had told his armed forces that they had the “complete operational freedom to decide on the mode, targets and timing of our response to the terror attack”.

As ties between the arch-rival South Asian nations plummeted to new lows, raising security concerns, Pakistan briefly closed the airspace over Gilgit-Baltistan yesterday, with an official noting that the air routes pass “near Indian territories”.

In a tit-for-tat retaliation to Pakistan shutting its airspace for Indian-operated airlines, Indian also closed its airspace for all Pakistani planes until May 23.

Additional input from AFP