As a leader who stands for peace, President Donald Trump has an opportunity to establish his legacy as peacemaker by addressing Pakistani-Indian dispute over Kashmir, where a massacre of Indian tourists have dangerously ratcheted up tensions between the South Asian nuclear powers, Pakistan’s top diplomat to the United States said.
Ambassador Rizwan Saeed Sheikh told Newsweek in an interview that Kashmir — a strategic Himalayan region divided between India and Pakistan— is a “flashpoint” given the nuclear risks involved in the consequential region of the world.
“If we have a president who is standing for peace in the world as a pronounced objective during this administration, to establish a legacy as a peacemaker, or as someone who finished wars, defied wars and played a role in de-confliction, resolving the disputes, I don’t think there is any higher or flashier flash point, particularly in nuclear terms, as Kashmir,” Ambassador Sheikh argued.
The diplomat was pointing to the urgency of the South Asian situation where the two neighbors, who have fought two full-scale wars and several conflicts for supremacy over resource-rich and Muslim-majority Kashmir region, are going through their worst turbulence in years after an April 22 incident when gunmen killed 26 tourists in Pahalgam town.
New Delhi has alleged that the perpetrators were linked to Pakistan but Islamabad says Prime Minister Narendra Modi has so far not shared any evidence to support his government’s claim.
While blaming Pakistan for the Pahalgam terrorist attack, New Delhi says Pakistan does not do enough to stop cross-border movement of militants operating from its soil, and uses terrorism against India as its state policy. New Delhi also cites the past involvement of Pakistan-based militant organizations like Lashkar-e-Tayyiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed in attacks against India.
Pakistan has denied any connection to the killings and said it wants a neutral transparent probe into the attack. Islamabad also accuses India of inflaming insurgency in its southwestern Balochistan province, saying New Delhi wants to destabilize Pakistan. In a recent statement, Islamabad implied that the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban outfit had the Indian backing as it carried out attacks against Pakistan from Afghanistan.
Indian Prime Minister Modi vowed a severe action against perpetrators of the attack.
“They have made the mistake of attacking the soul of India,” Modi said.
“Those who have planned and carried out this attack will be punished beyond their imagination.”
The terror attack took place in Pahalgam tourist area, located in the Indian-administered Kashmir. Pakistan and India both claim Jammu and Kashmir belongs to them and control parts of the territory.
In the interview, Sheikh underscored the international stakes for peace in a region, where China borders both Pakistan and India and where the United States wants to see stability.
“We are not talking about one or two countries in that neighborhood who are nuclear capable. So, that is how grave it is.”
Following the Pahalgam terrorist attack, Pakistani and Indian armies have also exchanged fire across the Line of Control that divides the Pakistani and Indian administered parts of Kashmir.
“So, I think with this threat that we are facing, there is a latent opportunity to address the situation by not just to focus on an immediate de-escalatory measure, or a de-escalatory approach,” Ambassador Sheikh said about what President Trump could do.
He said the U.S. president should “try and get this out of the way in a fashion that there is something more durable and lasting in terms of a durable solution of the Kashmir dispute rather than allowing the situation to stay precarious and pop up again and again at the next drop of a hat on this side or that side.”
In his initial reaction to the developments, President Trump condemned the Pahalgam terror attack and voiced the hope that Pakistan and India would be able to find a way out of the situation.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke to Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday, urging “Pakistani officials’ cooperation in investigating the unconscionable attack.”
Rubio also “encouraged Pakistan to work with India to de-escalate tensions, re-establish direct communications, and maintain peace and security in South Asia.”
Pakistan and India have closed their airspace to each other, New Delhi has suspended Indus Water Treaty, which administers a fair use of downstream water from Jammu and Kashmir rivers and downgraded diplomatic ties.
According to State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce the United States wants a “responsible solution” to the standoff and that Secretary Rubio has also urged foreign ministers of other countries to reach out the South Asian countries as part of diplomacy tamp down the tensions.
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