India launches air strikes on Pakistan, as UK ready to ‘support’ deescalation
The UK is ready to “support” both India and Pakistan to de-escalate tensions following an exchange of fire between the two nations, a minister has said.
Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said the situation in Kashmir was “hugely worrying”, just hours after signing a billion pound trade deal that had been three years in the making.
He told the BBC’s Today programme: “Our message would be that we are a friend, a partner to both countries. We stand ready to support both countries.
“Both have a huge interest in regional stability, in dialogue, in de-escalation and anything we can do to support that, we are here and willing to do.”
Scotland’s First Minister John Swinney and Labour MP Stella Creasy said they were “deeply” concerned by the escalation in violence while former Tory minister Lord Ahmad warned the “potential for war tonight is real”.
Lord Ahmad, who served as South Asia minister under the previous Conservative administration, said the missile strikes were an “alarming escalation”.
“The potential of a war tonight is real – we need urgent international engagement to prevent a widening of this conflict which carries serious implications not just for the region but for the wider world,” he said.
The Foreign Office said it advised against all travel within 10 kilometres of the India-Pakistan border, 10 miles of the Line of Control and the Balochistan province of Pakistan.
A statement said: “On the night of 6 May (UK Time), the Indian Ministry of Defence stated it had struck nine sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir.
“In response, there are reports of Pakistani artillery fire across the Line of Control.”
Tensions have mounted between the nuclear-armed neighbours over last month’s militant attack on tourists in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir.
India blamed Pakistan for backing the attack, which Islamabad has denied.
The missiles early on Wednesday struck locations in Pakistan-administered Kashmir and in the country’s eastern Punjab province, according to officials.
Pakistan’s military spokesperson Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif said India launched attacks on six different locations, killing eight people and injuring 38 others.
A mosque was hit in the city of Bahawalpur, where a child was killed and a woman and a man were injured, an official said.