United States President Donald Trump said on Thursday there would be some « reasonably decent news » on the ongoing conflict between India and Pakistan, a day after the two nuclear powers both downed enemy jets and Pakistan captured an Indian pilot.
NEW DELHI/SRINAGAR (Reuters) – United States President Donald Trump said on Thursday there would be some “reasonably decent news” on the ongoing conflict between India and Pakistan, a day after the two nuclear powers both downed enemy jets and Pakistan captured an Indian pilot.
The U. S., China and other world powers have urged restraint from the two nations as tensions escalate following tit-for-tat airstrikes in the wake of a suicide car bombing that killed at least 40 Indian paramilitary police in Indian-controlled Kashmir on Feb. 14.
Indian and Pakistani troops traded fire briefly along the contested border in Kashmir on Thursday morning, but speaking at a press conference, Trump said the U. S. had been mediating between the two sides.
“They have been going at it and we have been involved in trying to have them stop,” Trump said.
“We have been in the middle trying to help them both out.”
On Thursday India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who faces a general election in a matter of months, told a rally of supporters that India would unite against its enemies.
“The world is observing our collective will. It is necessary that we shouldn’t do anything that allows our enemy to raise a finger at us,” he said, in his first remarks since the downing of planes on Wednesday.
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has called for talks between the two nations.
Pakistan and India have fought three wars since independence from British colonial rule in 1947, two over Kashmir, and went to the brink of a fourth in 2002 after a Pakistani militant attack on India’s parliament.
Pakistan has shut its airspace, forcing commercial airlines to reroute. Thai Airways International announced on Thursday that it had canceled flights to Pakistan and Europe, which left thousands of passengers stranded in Bangkok.
