27 February 2019•Update: 27 February 2019
By Ahmet Gurhan Kartal
LONDON
The U.K. is “deeply concerned” about rising tensions between Pakistan and India and is urging restraint, British Prime Minister Theresa May said Wednesday.
Speaking at a weekly question session in the House of Commons, May said the British government is monitoring developments closely, and they hope tensions can be de-escalated.
The U.K. “urgently calls for restraint on both sides to avoid further escalation,” May said.
She said they are in contact with both sides and “urging dialogue and diplomatic solutions for regional stability.”
Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn said they “support urgent dialogue” between the two countries in order to “reduce the tensions and to deal with the root causes of it.”
The politicians' remarks came amid reports that Pakistan and India claimed they had shot down each other’s fighter jets.
Echoing May, Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt also said the U.K. is “very concerned” about the latest developments.
Hunt described India and Pakistan as “good friends of the U.K.,” adding that he has been in touch with the foreign ministers of both.
“We are urging restraint on all sides,” Hunt said.
“Neither side wants to see this escalate further but this is going to take a really critical restraint in the days ahead, and we are doing everything we can to support de-escalation of the tensions that are happening at the moment,” he added.
The tension between the two nuclear neighbors rose after Indian jets intruded into Pakistan's airspace early Tuesday.
India claimed its jets had killed “several terrorists” in “preemptive action” on a Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) camp, a group that Islamabad listed as a terrorist organization in 2002.
Pakistani officials have rejected the claim.
