UN chief Guterres warns India, Pakistan against 'tragic consequences'

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres spoke to Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar on Tuesday.

"The secretary-general also expressed his deep concern at rising tensions between India and Pakistan and underscored the need to avoid a confrontation that could result in tragic consequences," UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said.

A confrontation between the two nuclear-armed neighbors "would be catastrophic for those two countries and for the world as a whole," the statement added.

Sharif's office said he had asked Guterres to "counsel India to exercise restraint."

"Pakistan remains committed to peace, but will defend its sovereignty with full force if challenged," he wrote on X. 

Jaishankar appreciated the call from Guterres and said, "India is resolved that the perpetrators, planners, and backers of this attack are brought to justice." 

Military action from India possible, says DW's New Delhi bureau chief

DW's New Delhi bureau chief Sandra Petersmann suggested that India's recent history indicates a possibility of military action following the Kashmir attack.

She cited Delhi's limited military responses to attacks on Indian troops in Indian-administered Kashmir in 2016 and 2019.

"In 2019, the Indian Air Force struck an alleged military training camp in Abbottabad in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province which is close to the Afghan border but lost a jet in the process," she said. 

"So all of this is clearly indicating that a potential military reaction from India after this attack on civilians is very much on the table," Petersmann added.

India was also trying to diplomatically isolate Pakistan, adding pressure on Islamabad.

Conflict in Kashmir "goes much beyond the region," Petersmann said, noting that China's territorial claims could mean the involvement of three nuclear powers, not just two. 

Pakistan accuses India of planning 'military strike'

Pakistani Information Minister Attaullah Tarar claimed that New Delhi intended to use last week's militant attack on civilians as a "pretext" for further military action.

"Pakistan has credible intelligence that India intends to carry out military action against Pakistan in the next 24-36 hours on the pretext of baseless and concocted allegations of involvement in the Pahalgam incident," Attaullah Tarar wrote on the social media platform X. 

The statement came after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi reportedly authorized his country's armed forces on Tuesday to respond to the Kashmir attack in whatever way they see fit.