Pakistan envoy to US urges Trump to help ease tensions with India

By Islamuddin Sajid

ISLAMABAD (AA) - Pakistan's top envoy to the US has urged President Donald Trump to help ease tensions with India following a deadly gunman attack in Indian-administered Kashmir on April 22 that killed 26 tourists, a media report said Thursday.

In an interview with Newsweek magazine, Pakistan's ambassador in Washington, Rizwan Saeed Sheikh, described the Kashmir issue as a "flash point" and said Pakistan needs peaceful neighborhood relations with India.

"If we have a president who is standing for peace in the world as a pronounced objective during this administration, to establish a legacy as a peacemaker, or as someone who finished wars, defied wars and played a role in de-confliction, resolving the disputes, I don't think there is any higher or flashier flashpoint, particularly in nuclear terms, as Kashmir," Sheikh told the magazine.

Last week, President Trump said tensions between Pakistan and India have always existed and that the neighboring countries will resolve them.

On Wednesday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke separately with Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, urging both countries to reduce tensions and prioritize regional stability in the aftermath of the Pahalgam attack.

Tensions between the two nuclear neighbors escalated following the April 22 attack by unidentified gunmen in India-administered Kashmir, which killed 26 people.

The Pahalgam attack strained Pakistan's already tense relations with India over the disputed Himalayan region.