The United Nations on Thursday urged India and Pakistan to exercise restraint after New Delhi carried out a series of strikes inside Pakistani-controlled Kashmir.
Amid anger in India over a recent assault on one of its army bases in Kashmir, officials alleged troops had conducted “surgical strikes” several kilometres inside the Pakistan-controlled side of the disputed territory to prevent attacks being planned on major Indian cities.
“The United Nations calls on the government of India and Pakistan to exercise restraint and encourage them to continue their efforts to resolve their differences peacefully and through dialogue,” said UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric.
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Pakistan said two of its soldiers had been killed and nine more wounded in what it described as small arms fire and dismissed the talk of surgical strikes as an “illusion” designed to whip up “media hype”.
UN officials are following the increase in tensions in Kashmir “with great concern”, said Dujarric, adding that UN military observers were in contact with both sides to try to obtain further information.
Tensions between the two arch rivals have been boiling since the Indian government accused Pakistan-based militants of launching an assault on an army base in Kashmir earlier this month that killed 18 soldiers.
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