The U.S. State Department on Sunday urged India and Pakistan to remain calm and seek a “responsible solution” for their tensions as border security forces from both countries traded small arms fire for the fourth night in a row.
“This is an evolving situation and we are monitoring developments closely. We have been in touch with the governments of India and Pakistan at multiple levels. The United States encourages all parties to work together towards a responsible resolution,” the State Department said.
The State Department added that the United States “stands with India and strongly condemns the terrorist attack in Pahalgam.”
Tensions between India and Pakistan have steadily escalated since the terrorist attack on the Kashmir tourist haven of Pahalgam last week, in which 26 tourists were gunned down and dozens more were injured.
Some Indian officials have blamed the Pakistani government for permitting, or even assisting, the attack. The State Department did not endorse these allegations in its statement.
India said on Monday its forces responded to “unprovoked” small arms fire from several Pakistani border outposts in Kashmir for the fourth night in a row.
Both India and Pakistan claim the Kashmir region in full but each controls only a portion of its territory. The rival powers fought wars for control of Kashmir in 1947 and 1965. A 1999 conflict that began in the Kashmir region led to the fall of the Pakistani government.
Pakistani Defense Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif said on Monday that he believed India’s military exercises in Kashmir over the past week are preparations for military action against Pakistan.
“We have reinforced our forces because it is something which is imminent now. So in that situation some strategic decisions have to be taken. So those decisions have been taken,” he said.
Asif said Pakistani forces are on high alert for an attack. He pledged his country would only resort to nuclear weapons if “there is a direct threat to our existence.” Both India and Pakistan have nuclear arsenals.
Pakistani officials have warned they would consider Indian efforts to interfere with the flow of water in the Indus Basin to be an act of war. India announced it would withdraw from a 1960 treaty on water sharing shortly after the Pahalgam terror attack.
Indian officials said they have already stopped sharing river flow data with their Pakistani counterparts and were considering diverting river water away to Indian farms, potentially cutting off the irrigation to almost 80 percent of Pakistan’s farmland. Even before the terrorist attack, India wanted to renegotiate the Indus water treaty so it could build bigger hydroelectric dams.
“At this moment, we don’t have a substitute. The rivers governed by the treaty support not just crops but cities, power generation, and millions of livelihoods,” warned Ghasharib Shaokat of Pakistan Agriculture Research.
The UK Guardian on Monday found many Indian citizens were in favor of military action against Pakistan, which they accused of promoting terrorists and insurgents in Kashmir for many years.
“Pakistan is the root of the problem, and our military should go all out to teach them a lesson. Unless we break their back, these heinous acts will continue to occur. Our prime minister has our full support; our military has our full support,” said shopkeeper Sunil Singh.
“There must be a military strike, not only on the people who carried out this attack, but also those who are training them in Pakistan. Our government must show confidence. Death should be avenged by death,” said businessman Sanjiv Mehra.
The Guardian reported Kashmiris and Muslims across India have experienced verbal and physical abuse since the Pahalgam attack. Some hardline Hindu nationalist politicians have threatened to seek revenge against India’s Muslim population if the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi does not retaliate against Pakistan.
