US urges India, Pakistan not to escalate tensions, Rubio plans calls

WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will speak soon with his counterparts in India and Pakistan and urge them not to escalate tensions over a deadly militant attack in India-administered Kashmir, the State Department said on Tuesday.

Washington said on Sunday it was in touch with the nuclear-armed Asian neighbours at multiple levels while urging them to work towards what it called a “responsible solution.”

Read more: PM briefs UN Chief on South Asia tensions, warns of serious consequences

“We are reaching out to both parties, and telling, of course, them to not escalate the situation,” a State Department spokesperson told reporters, quoting a statement by Rubio.

Rubio expects to speak to the foreign ministers of India and Pakistan on Tuesday or Wednesday and encouraged other foreign ministers to do the same, the State Department added.

In public, Washington expressed support for India after the attack that was condemned by President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance, but it has not criticised Pakistan.

India blamed Pakistan for the April 22 attack that killed 26. Pakistan denies responsibility and called for a neutral probe.

India is an increasingly important US partner as Washington aims to counter China’s rising influence. Pakistan remains Washington’s ally even as its importance diminished after the 2021 US withdrawal from neighbouring Afghanistan.

Muslim-majority Kashmir is claimed in full by both Hindu-majority India and Islamic Pakistan, which each control only part of it and have fought wars over the Himalayan region.

After the attack, India suspended the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty that regulates water-sharing from the Indus River and its tributaries, and Pakistan closed airspace to Indian airlines.

They also exchanged fire across their de facto border.

Read more: Indian army, not RAW, fuelling terrorism in Pakistan: DG ISPR

Hindu nationalist Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has vowed to punish the attackers. Pakistan’s defense minister has said a military incursion by India was imminent.