Washington: The US and the United Nations has welcomed Pakistan’s decision to release captured Indian Air Force pilot, Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman, from their custody.
“We welcome Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan’s commitment that Pakistan will release Friday the Indian pilot held in its custody,” an US State Department spokesperson stated.
Simultaneously, the US has urged both India and Pakistan to take immediate steps to de-escalate tensions. “The United States continues to urge both sides to take immediate steps to de-escalate the situation, including through direct communication. Further military activity will exacerbate the situation,” the spokesperson added.
The US also reiterated its call to Pakistan to abide by its UN Security Council commitments to deny terrorists safe haven and block their access to funds.
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer joined the other lawmakers in expressing concern over the escalating tension between India and Pakistan. “This is ‘a result of a Pakistan-based terrorist group’s brutal attack’, he asserted.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also expressed satisfaction at Pakistan’s offer to release Wing Commander Varthaman. His spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told reporters: “The report of the release of the Indian pilot by the Pakistani authorities would be very much a welcome step. We would encourage both parties to do whatever they can to de-escalate the situation.”
Guterres has been in contact ‘with both sides at various levels’, Dujarric said, while declining to identify the contacts.
Dujarric added that de-escalating tensions “is the message that has been passed on by the United Nations and, I think, by the international community as a whole”.
UN General Assembly president Maria Fernanda Espinosa also joined in the international call for dialogue between India and Pakistan.
She ‘asks for both sides right now to seek dialogue to avoid an escalation of tensions, but also to avoid further tragic loss of life’, her spokesperson Monica Billela Grayley told reporters.
Agencies