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United Nations, New Delhi: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for a de-escalation of the tense situation in the subcontinent following the terrorist attack in Pulwama that killed 40 Indian security personnel.
His spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told reporters on Tuesday: “We are deeply concerned at the increase in tensions between the two countries in the wake of the attack on Indian security personnel on February 14 in Pulwama.”
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump has urged India and Pakistan to “get along” in the wake of Jammu and Kashmir suicide bombing and said his country will respond on the issue at an “appropriate time”.
“I have watched, I have got a lot of reports on it,” Trump said in response to a question during an Oval Office signing ceremony on Tuesday. “We will have comment [on it] at an appropriate time. It would be wonderful if they [India and Pakistan] get along.”
The US President called the attack that killed 49 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) troopers last week “a horrible situation”.
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“That [the terrorist attack] was a horrible situation. We are getting reports. We will have a statement to put out,” he said.
Earlier on Tuesday, US State Department deputy spokesperson Robert Palladino, during a press briefing, said that Washington was in touch with both New Delhi and Islamabad regarding the bombing claimed by the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM).
“We have been in close communication with the government of India to express not only our condolences but our strong support for India as it confronts this terrorism,” said Palladino.
“We have a close, cooperative relationship with India, a security relationship, and that includes counter-terrorism operations.
“As far as Pakistan goes, we’ve been in contact with the country on this issue ... We urge Pakistan to fully cooperate with the investigation into the attack and to punish anyone responsible,” he added.
Meanwhile, India’s National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday took over the probe into the February 14 terror attack in Pulwama from Jammu and Kashmir police, officials said.
The agency has re-registered the case and formed a team to investigate the terror strike in which 49 CRPF personnel were killed, an NIA spokesperson here said.
The state police had registered a case at the Awantipora police station on February 14 after a suicide bomber blew himself up next to a CRPF bus, which was part of a 78-vehicle convoy carrying over 2,500 personnel on their way from Jammu to Srinagar.
The NIA has already gathered explosive material from the blast site in Lethpora in Pulwama district of south Kashmir and has been involved in the questioning of around a dozen people detained by police following the bombing, officials said.
The agency has also met senior police, intelligence and army officers to gather whatever evidence they have, they said.
The NIA will probe the planning and execution of the terror attack, the second such in three decades of militancy in the state.
In 2000, a 17-year-old Kashmiri boy blew himself up outside the Srinagar-based army cantonment in year 2000, killing two army personnel.
On Monday, three JeM militants were killed in a 16-hour operation in Pulwama’s Pinglan area, 12km from the spot of the February 14 attack.
An army major and four security personnel also lost their lives.
The police and army announced on Tuesday that the militants were responsible for last Thursday’s attack.
