Hope that India's response to Pahalgam does not lead to wider regional conflict: US Vice President Vance

US Vice President JD Vance has expressed hope that India’s response to the April 22 attack in Pahalgam in occupied Kashmir does not lead to a wider regional conflict.

“Our hope here is that India responds to this terrorist attack in a way that doesn’t lead to a wider regional conflict,” the US Vice President said in an interview with FOX News on Thursday.

Following last week’s attack in Pahalgam, a tourist spot in illegally occupied Kashmir, which had claimed the lives of 26 people, including a Nepalese national, India implied cross-border links without offering evidence or conducting an investigation. 

Condemning the attack, Pakistan has strongly rejected the accusations and called for a credible, transparent and neutral international investigation into the incident.

Asserting that the US is in close contact with friends in India and Pakistan, Vance said, “We hope frankly that Pakistan, to the extent that they are responsible, cooperate with India to make sure the terrorists, sometimes operating in their territory, are hunted down and dealt with. That’s how we hope this unfolds.”

Vance’s statement followed a question asked by the host whether the US worried about India and Pakistan, as tensions were escalating after the Pahalgam attack.

Meanwhile, the Pakistan ambassador to the US, Rizwan Saeed Sheikh, in an interview with ABC News on Thursday, said that India has yet to provide any evidence related to the attack. 

He made it clear that Pakistan desires peace, but this should not be misconstrued as weakness. “…We want peace with dignity, but it should not in any way be seen as a sign of weakness that we are interested in peace,” he added.

He cautioned, “On our part, what we can do is exercise restraint, but if there is an attack on our territory, Pakistan will respond with full force and all that we have within our army. We do not want to initiate anything, but in a nuclear neighbourhood, if it gets started, nobody knows where it goes.”

On Wednesday, the US State Department said that the US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, urged Pakistan and India to work together to ease tensions.

 
Rubio conveyed the message in separate calls with Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif and Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar.

 
According to separate statements issued by the US State Department after the calls, the US Secretary of State called on Pakistan to cooperate in probing the attack in Pahalgam.

US State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said that the Secretary of State encouraged Pakistan to work with India to ease tensions, restore direct communication, and promote peace and security in South Asia.

 
“The Secretary spoke of the need to condemn the terror attack on April 22 in Pahalgam,” Bruce said, adding that both leaders reaffirmed their continued commitment to holding terrorists accountable for their heinous acts of violence.