Tensions between India and Pakistan over Kashmir have the potential to blow up into a regional crisis and it is the right time for US President Donald Trump to mediate, Prime Minister Imran Khan said on Sunday.
Imran Khan’s comments come a day after the reported use of illegal cluster bombs by India, which resulted in the death of two civilians in the disputed region.
“President Trump offered to mediate on Kashmir. This is the time to do so as situation deteriorates there and along the LoC (Line of Control) with new aggressive actions being taken by Indian occupation forces,” Imran Khan said on Twitter, referring to the heavily militarised de facto border. “This has the potential to blow up into a regional crisis,” he said.
“I condemn India’s attack across LoC on innocent civilians and its use of cluster munitions in violation of international humanitarian law and its own commitments under the 1983 Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons,” Imran Khan said via Twitter. “It is time to end the long night of suffering for the people of occupied Kashmir. They must be allowed to exercise their right to self-determination according to UNSC resolutions. The only road to peace and security in South Asia runs through a peaceful and just settlement of Kashmir,” the premier added.
The premier’s comments come after India, in a major escalation in the ceasefire violations, began using cluster munitions on civilian population living close to the LoC. The use of cluster bombs on the Neelum Valley over the past few days has caused multiple fatalities and injuries to several others, including minor children.
India’s foreign affairs ministry and the White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Imran Khan’s remarks.
In July, Trump told reporters that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had asked him during a meeting in Japan if he would like to be a mediator on Kashmir. India denied Modi ever asked for any mediation.
Muslim-majority Kashmir has long been a bone of contention between the two countries. Tensions flared after a vehicle laden with explosives rammed into an Indian police convoy on February 14, killing 40 paramilitary police, and leading to aerial clashes between the two nations.
India accuses Pakistan of funding armed militants, as well as separatist groups in IHK, but Islamabad denied the accusation, saying it provides only diplomatic and moral support to a separatist movement.
Tensions have escalated particularly since Friday, when local Indian officials in IHK issued an alert over possible militant attacks, after which thousands of Indian tourists, pilgrims and workers left the region in panic.
On Sunday, Kashmir remained on high alert with Indian paramilitary forces deployed across major towns. One senior local official said a curfew was likely next week.
However, the city police chief in Srinagar, the state’s main city, told an international news wire he had no knowledge of a curfew. Hospitals were on alert, with staff told not to leave the city without permission, officials said.
The local government on Friday said they had intelligence inputs of militant attacks and called off a major Hindu pilgrimage, asking pilgrims and tourists to return home.
Britain and Germany have in advisories discouraged their citizens from visiting IHK, but around 160 foreign tourists arrived on Saturday, one official said. Some were not worried.
