The United States today urged militaries of India and Pakistan to keep their lines of communication open to help defuse tensions in the region.
“We urge calm and restraint on both sides. We understand, as we said last week that the militaries are in touch. We believe that that continued communication is vital to reduce these tensions," State Department spokesperson Elizabeth Trudeau told reporters yesterday.
The reaction from US comes amid deteriorating relations between the two south Asian neighbours.
Trudeau, however, refused to respond to questions on India's ‘surgical strikes’ across the Line of Control in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir last week.
“I am not going to speak to any reports of these incidents,” Trudeau added.
Trudeau said that the US is emphasising on regional stability and security in its dialogues with Indian and Pakistani leaders.
"I think what you would take a look at being discussed is regional stability and regional security. One of the things I think we all need to focus on is conflicts or issues or rising tension are not contained to any specific region," she said.
"We are in favour of any reduction of tensions that both sides agree to in this particular instance. We have strong ties with both Pakistan and India, and we'll engage on that basis," she added.
She further said the US position on Kashmir has not changed.
"I would say that our position on Kashmir has not changed, and I would remind you that we are having conversations with both countries on the importance of reducing the tensions in the region," she said.
The United States has since very long maintained that ‘India and Pakistan should resolve the Kashmir dispute together’.
Tensions heightened between India and Pakistan last week after Indian Army carried out surgical strikes on seven terror launch pads across the LoC in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, inflicting heavy casualties on terrorists waiting to sneak into India.
The surgical strikes came days after Pakistani terrorists stormed an Army camp in Kashmir's Uri, killing 19 soldiers. Pakistan has denied India's claim of surgical strikes and termed it as "cross-border" firing.
With PTI Inputs
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