Guterres warns India, Pakistan against 'tragic consequences'

Indiahas closed its airspace to Pakistaniairlines, according to local media.

All aircraft registered in Pakistan, including military flights, are affected, with the ban remaining in place until May 23, the authorities said, according to Indian broadcaster NDTV.

This comes as tensions between the countries continue to grow after the deadly attack in the disputed Kashmirregion that resulted in 26 people being killed.

Pakistan closed its airspace to Indian aircraft as part of the diplomatic downturn since the attack on April 22.

Sumatra Bose, a political scientist and a professor at the London School of Economics (LSE), told DW that India's attack on Pakistanis imminent.

"I think it's a matter of days rather than weeks," Bose said, adding that the main question would be the form of India's military action.

The reasons for the Indian government's lack of choices, Bose said, stems from its very own hardline rhetoric, as well as from Prime Minister Narendra Modi's no-nonsense leader image being at risk.

Speaking about the potential of another country mediating between India and Pakistan, the LSE professor says the two countries are pretty much on their own.

The United Nations "became irrelevant" on Kashmirdecades ago, while the US and China are hardly likely to become active, also due to Beijing's close relations with Pakistan, she added.

"China is very likely to extend, at the very least, moral and diplomatic support to its longstanding ally," Bose said.

Viral posts on social media have claimed India triggered a flood in Pakistan by withholding, then releasing, large amounts of water from a dam, causing flooding.

New Delhi suspended a crucial water-sharing treaty with Islamabad after last week's deadly attack in Pahalgam in Indian-administered Kashmir.

You can read what DW Fact Check found and how they reached their decision by clicking here. 

Pakistan's national carrier has canceled all flights to Gilgit and Skardu, in Pakistan-administered Kashmir due to security concerns.

News site Geo News reported that Pakistan International Airlines canceled multiple flights from Karachi, Lahore, and Islamabad.

Meanwhile, Express News reported that Pakistan issued new directives to air traffic controllers to ramp up monitoring of Pakistani airspace.

More Pakistani nationals living in India headed to the mainland crossing between the two countries on Wednesday, well after the deadline for them to leave by Sunday had passed.

India has ordered almost all Pakistani citizens to leave the country as part of Delhi's response to the attack in Pahalgam in Indian-administered Kashmir, which it has linked to Pakistan.

Sara Khan, who was ordered back to Pakistan without her husband, Aurangzeb Khan, who holds an Indian passport, told the Associated Press news agency, "they told me you are illegal and you should go."

"We have settled our families here. We request the government not to uproot our families," said Khan, who had a long-term visa that was valid until July 2026.

The Pakistani government, which denies any involvement in last week's attack, has retaliated with its own measures, including the cancellation of most visas for Indian citizens.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will not attend the Victory Day celebrations in Moscow, the Kremlin announced.

The May 9 event marks the 80th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany in World War II.

Modi was invited to attend alongside other international leaders, including Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov did not provide a reason for Modi's absence. According to the Russian state news agency TASS, Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh may represent India instead.

India's government said Wednesday that Russia had been informed that India would be represented by Singh.

Authorities in Indian-administered Kashmir have temporarily closed dozens of tourist resorts in the region following last week's deadly attack.

Militants killed 26 people, mostly tourists on Tuesday, April 22. India has blamed the attack on Pakistan, which has repeatedly denied the allegation. Kashmir is a disputed territory administered by India, Pakistan and China.

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 for terrorist 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. 

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." 

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.

Welcome to DW's coverage of events in Kashmir and the wider region on Wednesday, April 30, 2025.

On April 22, gunmen killed 26 people, most of whom were tourists, near a resort close to the mountain town of Pahalgam in Indian-administered Kashmir.

The attack prompted New Delhi and Islamabad to downgrade diplomatic ties, and India suspended a key water-sharing treaty with Pakistan.

The following days have seen cross-border firing from both sides, with no reported casualties.

On Tuesday, Pakistan accused India of planning a military strike within the next 24-36 hours.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to hold a cabinet meeting to discuss further steps this morning, we'll look at that and other developments in this blog.