Pakistan has said it is open to any “neutral and transparent” investigation into massacre of 26 people in Indian-administered Kashmir as tensions between the two countries escalated into firing across the Line of Control in the disputed Himalayan territory.
The April 22 attack in Pahalgam tourist town of Kashmir saw 26 people, mostly tourists, killed in what is being described as the deadliest armed attack in Kashmir since the year 2000.
According to Indian media a previously unknown militant group The Resistance Front (TRF) had claimed the responsibility. However the group denied the claim on Saturday, saying that it was not involved in the incident.
Since the incident, the nuclear-armed nations have unleashed a raft of measures against each other, with India unilaterally suspending the critical Indus Waters Treaty and Pakistan retaliating by putting the Simla Agreement in abeyance and closing its airspace to Indian flights.
On Saturday, media report said India and Pakistan traded gunfire on the Line of Control, the de facto border that divides the Himalayan state between India and Pakistan.
Both countries partly control the strategic territory and claim it in entirety. The UN recognizes Kashmir as a disputed territory, where the will of the people through a credible plebiscite should determine its future.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif Saturday said: “The recent tragedy in Pahalgam is yet another example of this perpetual blame game, which must come to a grinding halt.”
“Continuing with its role as a responsible country, Pakistan is open to participating in any neutral, transparent and credible investigation,” he said in remarks at a passing-out parade at the Pakistan Military Academy in Kakul.
However, he did not specify who should lead the probe.
U.S. President Donald Trump has expressed the hope that Pakistan and India would be able to sort out the ongoing tensions.
The retaliatory measures by both sides include expulsion of diplomats and cancellation of visas of visiting citizens.
The situation has also seen a rise in rhetoric on both sides.
In New Delhi Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s aides have issued a series of hardline statements against Pakistan. On the Pakistani side, ministers have reacted with warnings of their own.
India’s resources minister, C R Patil said the country ensure “not a single drop” of river water flows into Pakistan after the suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty.
Islamabad has warned any attempt to block water would be an “act of war”, with the Pakistan People’s party chief, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, declaring: “Either our water will flow through it, or their blood.”
“As the world’s frontline state against terrorism, we have endured immense loss, with out 90,000 casualties and economic losses beyond imagination, exceeding $600 billion,” he said.
Meanwhile, regional powers Saudi Arabia and Iran have started diplomatic efforts to defuse the tension between the nuclear armed rivals in South Asia.
