Pakistani PM warns India against attack, urges talks on Kashmir blast

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Prime Minister Imran Khan said on Tuesday Pakistan would retaliate if India attacked in response to a bombing in the disputed Kashmir region, which India blamed on Pakistan.

Khan added that he wanted to cooperate in investigating the suicide bombing on Thursday, when 40 Indian paramilitary police were killed in an attack claimed by the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) militant group.

Tensions between the neighbors have risen sharply over the killing. Pakistani authorities have denied any involvement in the attack and called for intervention from the UN.

But Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who faces a general election by May, has come under pressure to exact revenge and has said he has given his security forces a free hand to administer a "strong response."

Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan delivers policy statement on Pulwama attack in Islamabad, February 19, 2019. /VCG Photo

Khan, in a televised address to the nation, noted the calls in India for revenge and said he hoped "better sense will prevail."

"If you think that you will launch any kind of attack on Pakistan, Pakistan will not just think about retaliation, Pakistan will retaliate," he said. "And after that where will it head?"

The United Nations is "deeply concerned" at the rising tensions and Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is available to mediate if both sides ask, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said on Tuesday.

Earlier, Pakistan's foreign minister, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, sent a letter to Guterres seeking U.N. involvement. "The secretary-general stresses the importance for both sides to exercise maximum restraint and take immediate steps to de-escalation," Dujarric said.

Indian mourners take part in a candle light vigil as they pay homage to the killed service members, February 17, 2019. /VCG Photo

The United States, which has condemned the attack as "heinous", has been in contact with both India and Pakistan to discuss the issue, State Department spokesman Robert Palladino told a briefing.

Khan reiterated that Pakistan had nothing to do with the bomb attack and said it was ready to take action against anyone found to be behind it. "If you have any actionable intelligence that Pakistanis are involved, give that to us, I guarantee you that we will take action," Khan said.

Indian security forces intensified a crackdown in response to the deadliest attack in decades on security forces in the disputed region.

Thursday's bombing was carried out by a 20-year-old man from a village in Indian Kashmir. His parents said he had joined a militant group after being beaten by Indian troops in 2016.

Source(s): Reuters