US intervention holds great value, reckon Pakistani experts as tensions rise at LoC

Islamabad, April 28 (IANS) The United States has established contact with both Pakistan and India at multiple levels to de-escalate the ongoing tension between both countries following last week's Pahalgam attack, reports indicated on Monday.

"This is an evolving situation and we are monitoring developments closely. We have been in touch with the governments of India and Pakistan at multiple levels. The United States encourages all parties to work together towards a responsible resolution," local media in Pakistan quoted a US State Department spokesperson as saying.

Tensions between the nuclear-armed countries escalated after the Pahalgam attack which resulted in the death of 26 innocent civilians. New Delhi has accused Islamabad for supporting and facilitating the Pahalgam attack through cross-border terrorism, a claim Pakistan rejected.

Reports indicated that the Resistance Front, an offshoot of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba, claimed responsibility for the attack.

"Both India and Pakistan have taken very strong positions against each other. Both have cut trade, cancelled visas, shut down borders, India suspended Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) and Pakistan closed its airspace. Both sides have issued very strong statements, pushing themselves to the point of no return and leaving war as the only option," said senior analyst Kamran Yousaf.

"The US intervention holds great value. Washington's influence will certainly allow the both sides to take a step back from their rigid positions against each other," he added.

Countries including Iran and Saudi Arabia have also extended an offer to mediate peace between India and Pakistan. Experts reckon that Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have in the past played an important role in persuading both sides to hold talks.

"Using their influence, the UAE and Saudi Arabia have been able to bring both India and Pakistan on the talks table through backdoor negotiations. This resulted in the ceasefire along the Line of Control (LoC). That happened at a time when all diplomatic and trade relations between India and Pakistan were at an all-time low and both sides made public claims that they would not talk to each other," says Yousaf, highlighting that India is an important partner to Washington in terms of countering China's influence in the region, while Pakistan remains a US ally, in terms of keeping a close eye on Afghanistan.

Experts also believe that while US intervention into the current Pakistan-India tension holds great relevance, the Donald Trump administration may not indulge itself too much into the matter.

"India has a longstanding grievance about terrorism emanating or supported from across the border. Pakistan has a longstanding belief that India wants to dismember it. Both work themselves into a frenzy every few years. This time, there is no US interest in calming things down," said Hussain Haqqani, a former Pakistani Ambassador based in the United States.

--IANS

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