US president alarmed by ‘very dangerous situation’ between Pakistan, India
Online
WASHINGTON
United States President Donald Trump, while voicing alarm at a “very dangerous” standoff between India and Pakistan, indicated that the US and others are trying to defuse tensions between South Asia’s two nuclear-armed states.
“Right now between Pakistan and India, there is a very, very bad situation. A very dangerous situation,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “We would like to see it [hostilities] stop. A lot of people were just killed. We want to see it just stop. We are very much involved in that [process],” he added.
At least 40 Indian soldiers were killed in occupied Kashmir’s Pulwama district on Feb 14 when a suicide bomber drove an explosive-laden car into their convoy. According to media reports, Jaish-e-Muhammad claimed responsibility for the attack but New Delhi immediately blamed Islamabad and threatened a retaliatory attack. It also announced that it would launch a diplomatic offensive to isolate Pakistan in the international community. Furthermore, India scrapped the Most Favoured Nation status granted to Pakistan and imposed a 200 per cent customs duty on its goods.
The exchange alarmed world capitals, who — as President Trump hinted in his news briefing on Friday — immediately got in touch with both New Delhi and Islamabad to defuse the situation.
“We’re talking and a lot of people are talking […] but it is a very, very delicate balance going on. Right now, there is (sic) a lot of problems between India and Pakistan because of what just happened,” Trump said.
Trump assured India that the US understood its feelings. “India is looking at something very strong. India just lost almost 50 people in the attack. I can understand that too,” he said, adding that his administration was talking to “authorities in both countries”. He, however, did not specify what measures the US and other nations had so far taken to avoid further escalation between the neighboring countries.
