UN Chief Dials Delhi and Islamabad as Tensions Surge After Pahalgam Attack
As tensions between India and Pakistan escalate, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres held separate phone calls with Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday. The outreach followed Pakistan’s claim of “credible intelligence” indicating an imminent Indian military strike within the next 24–36 hours—an assertion India has not publicly addressed.
Guterres strongly condemned the April 22 terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam that killed 26 people, most of them tourists. His spokesperson, Stéphane Dujarric, emphasized that Guterres was deeply alarmed by the rising hostility between the nuclear-armed neighbors and reiterated the need for lawful accountability for the attackers. “The Secretary-General underscored the importance of avoiding confrontation that could lead to tragic consequences,” Dujarric said, adding that Guterres offered his “good offices” to support de-escalation.
Jaishankar, in a post on X, thanked Guterres for his support and reiterated India’s resolve to bring the perpetrators and their backers to justice. Meanwhile, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Sharif also took to X, denying involvement in the attack and calling for a neutral international probe. He reaffirmed Pakistan’s commitment to peace but warned that any threat to its sovereignty would be met with “full force.”
Pakistan’s information minister, Attaullah Tarar, claimed India was using the Pahalgam tragedy as a pretext for aggression, suggesting Delhi’s accusations were “baseless and concocted.”
With the situation highly volatile, Guterres’ intervention signals the global concern surrounding another potential India-Pakistan flashpoint.
