India-Pakistan tensions: US, China urge de-escalation

Pakistan's defense minister said a military incursion by India was imminent after the Kashmirattack which claimed the lives of 26 people.

"We have reinforced our forces because it is something which is imminent now," Defense Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif told Reuters, adding that "strategic decisions" have been taken.

Asif also said the country would only use its nuclear weapons in the case of a "direct threat to our existence."

The Pakistani defense minister is a member of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz party, which has historically pursued peace talks with neighboring India.
 

India should be careful not to alienate Kashmiris in its hunt for militants who killed 26 people last week,  the region's chief minister has said. 

Omar Abdullah said this was particularly important given that people in the Muslim-majority Himalayan region have staged protests against that attack, its chief minister said on Monday.

"We should not do anything to alienate the people after their spontaneous reaction [against the attack]," Abdullah, chief minister of the Indian federal territory of Jammu and Kashmir, told the local assembly house.

"Guns can only control militancy, not finish it. It will only end when the people are with us. It seems people are now reaching that stage."

Indiabanned sixteen Pakistani YouTube accounts for allegedly spreading "provocative" content following the Kashmir attack.

Among the banned accounts are those of Pakistani media outlets Dawn, Samaa TV, ARY News and others.

When users in India try to access the accounts, they receive a message which reads they are blocked due to an "order from the government related to national security or public order."

The Kashmirattack, which claimed the lives of 26 people, was the worst on civilians in the contested region.

On Sunday, Pakistan security forces said it killed 54 militants in an overnight operation in the North Waziristan district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province close to the Afghanistan border. It followed the militants' attempt to cross into the country, marking one of the deadliest of such killings in recent years.

In a statement, the military said that intelligence reports indicated the killed militants were "Khwarij," a term used by the government for Pakistani Taliban.

In another overnight operation on Monday, the Pakistani army said its troops killed 17 more militants trying to cross the border, bringing the total of insurgents killed to 71 in the past three days.

India has threatened to suspend the Indus Water Treaty, which governs how water in the Indus basin is being shared between India and Pakistan.

That could wreak havoc on Pakistan's agriculture and economy.

China's Foreign Ministry on Monday made a statement asking India and Pakistan to exercise restraint.

"China hopes that the two sides will exercise restraint, meet each other halfway, properly handle relevant differences through dialogue and consultation and jointly maintain regional peace and stability," Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said.

Beijing gave its support on Sunday to Pakistan's calls for an independent investigation into the recent attack on tourists in the Indian-administered part of Kashmir.

The "denial of Kashmiri self-determination" lies at the core of the conflict between India and Pakistan, Natasha Raheja, a political anthropologist at Cornell University told DW.

"At the core of this dispute is an ongoing struggle and denial of Kashmiri self-determination. This is a region that has been besieged by a history of colonial borders that were drawn in haste as well as hasty princely state accessions," she said, adding that there was an escalation of a "nationalist rhetoric" this time.

According to Raheja, both countries "have a history of leveraging their minoritized populations against each other."

"Kashmiri people are suffering and their voices are being overshadowed by the military showmanship at the border."

As for a solution to the conflict, Raheja believes it will be the people's own questioning of their borders which could lead to progress.

"People across borders must work together and they must question the work that these borders do."

The Indian Army said in a statement their soldiers exchanged gunfire for the fourth night in a row on Monday as tensions remained high between New Delhi and Islamabad. No deaths were reported.

"During the night of April 27-28... Pakistan Army posts initiated unprovoked small arms fire across the Line of Control. Indian troops responded swiftly and effectively," the Indian army said in a statement. 

Pakistan has not yet confirmed the gunfire.

Kashmir is a disputed territory administered by India, Pakistan and China.
 
India and Pakistan both claim sovereignty over the whole region. A 1972 agreement established a so-called "Line of Control (LoC)" that divides the Indian and Pakistan-administered parts.

India accused Pakistan of supporting militancy in the region after the Pahalgam attack. Pakistan has denied the claims, and called for an independent probe.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi spoke to Pakistan's Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar on Sunday, expressing his support for an independent investigation into the Pahalgam attack. 

"China advocates for a swift and fair investigation and believes that conflict does not serve the fundamental interests of either India or Pakistan, nor does it benefit regional peace and stability," Wang told Dar, reported China's Xinhua news agency.

He added that he hoped both sides would show restraint and work to de-escalate the situation.

Wang also spoke to UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy about "India's false accusations, baseless propaganda and unilateral measures," said Pakistani newspaper Dawn.

He told Lammy that Pakistan was dedicated to promoting peace in the region.

The US State Department on Sunday said it was in touch with India and Pakistan, and wanted them to work towards a "responsible solution" as tensions stayed high between the two neighbors after the recent attack in Kashmir.

"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," a US State Department spokesperson told Reuters news agency.

The US has expressed its support to India after the attack, which New Delhi blames on Pakistan. Islamabad has denied any responsibility and called for a neutral investigation.

India and Pakistan are both important strategic partners for the US amid China's rising influence.

Welcome to DW's coverage of events in Kashmir and the wider region on Monday, April 28, 2025.

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

The attack prompted New Delhi to downgrade its diplomatic ties with Islamabad the following day, including the suspension of a key water-sharing treaty and closure of its main land border crossing with Pakistan.

In response, Pakistan closed its airspace to Indian flights. Both sides have expelled each others' diplomats and canceled or curtailed visa durations.

Since then, tensions have prevailed with cross-border firing from both sides for the last four days.