India-Pakistan conflict: both sides call for reciprocal de-escalation to restore peace
Both sides have urged reciprocal de-escalation to avert war and restore regional stability
Pakistan and India launched strikes and counterstrikes against each other’s military installations on Saturday, prompting US calls for the nuclear-armed neighbours to begin talks and defuse their escalating conflict, the most intense since 1999.
Fears that the countries’ nuclear arsenals might come into play spiked when the Pakistan military said a top military and civil body overseeing its nuclear weapons would meet, but the defence minister later said no such meeting was scheduled.
Officials from both sides showed a willingness for now to take a step back following the day’s exchanges.
Pakistan’s foreign minister, Mohammad Ishaq Dar, told local television that if India stops here, then “we will consider to stop here”.
The Indian military said regarding Pakistan’s military attacks on Saturday that “all hostile actions have been effectively countered and responded to appropriately”.
Analysts and diplomats have long feared that conflict between the rivals could escalate into the use of nuclear weapons, in one of the world’s most dangerous and most populated nuclear flashpoint regions. Unlike India, Pakistan does not have a no-first-use doctrine.