By Umar Farooq
WASHINGTON (AA) - UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged India and Pakistan on Wednesday to take steps to deescalate tensions, according to his spokesman Stephane Dujarric.
Dujarric told reporters Guterres is following the situation with “deep concern,” and his offices are always available if both sides agree to mediation.
“The United Nation’s message, both publicly and privately to both sides, is to urgently take steps to lower tensions through meaningful, mutual engagements, and meet their responsibilities to maintain peace and security in the region,” Dujarric said.
Guterres received a call Tuesday from Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, according to Dujarric.
Tensions escalated between the two nuclear-charged neighbors in the past few weeks, after a suicide bombing in Jammu and Kashmir killed more than 40 Indian paramilitary troops Feb. 14.
The Jaish-e-Mohammad (JEM) militant group claimed responsibility for the attack, which India claims is headquartered in Pakistan, a charge denied by Islamabad. JEM has been listed as a terrorist organization by Pakistan since 2002.
The Muslim-majority Himalayan region is held by India and Pakistan in parts and claimed by both in full.
Since they were partitioned in 1947, India and Pakistan have fought three wars -- in 1948, 1965 and 1971 -- two of them over Kashmir. Kashmiri resistance groups in Jammu and Kashmir have been fighting Indian rule for independence, or for unification with neighboring Pakistan.
Early Tuesday, Indian jets intruded Pakistani airspace in a what it called a “preemptive action” killing “several terrorists” in a JEM camp in Balakot, another Indian claim rejected by Pakistan.
It was the first such attack by India on Pakistani territory since the two countries went to war in 1971.
On Wednesday, the Pakistan army said it shot down two Indian fighter jets that crossed into Pakistani territory, releasing a video showing one of the pilots in custody.
There were also reports early Wednesday morning of a third crash of an Indian military chopper in Budgam area of Indian-administered Kashmir, which claimed the lives of all six air force personnel on board and one civilian, Indian broadcaster NDTV said.
Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan offered dialogue to India to quell the mounting escalation between the two countries.
In a televised address to the nation, Khan said his country was forced to take action against Indian jets as “no sovereign country can allow the other to act like a judge, jury and executor altogether."