'Escalation helps no one': EU foreign policy chief urges India, Pakistan to ease ongoing tension

By Ahmet Gencturk

ATHENS (AA)— The EU foreign policy chief on Friday urged India and Pakistan to defuse the ongoing tension.

Kaja Kalas stated on X that she spoke with the foreign ministers of India and Pakistan, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and Ishaq Dar, and that “I urge both sides to show restraint and pursue dialogue to ease the situation."

She remarked, "Escalation helps no one.”

The development came amid rising tensions between the two nuclear neighbors following the April 22 Pahalgam attack by unidentified gunmen in India-administered Kashmir, which killed 26 people.

New Delhi claimed the attack had "cross-border links," which Islamabad denied, and demanded a joint investigation into the incident.

In the last several days, the armies of the two South Asian countries exchanged small arms fire across the disputed Kashmir border — the Line of Control.

Pakistan's Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar said on Wednesday that the country will not be the first to resort to escalation, but that it will respond "very strongly" if India does.