West calls for calm in India-Pakistan clash
Imran Khan has called for talks to avert further conflict between India and Pakistan after their air forces fought a dogfight over Kashmir and Islamabad said it had shot down two jets and captured a pilot.
Escalating tensions between the neighbours flared into aerial combat, as both sides confirmed their jets had clashed and Pakistan broadcast footage of its prisoner. The dogfight occurred as Pakistani jets launched their own airstrikes inside Indian territory following a raid by India the day before.
Pakistan said it had shot down two Indian jets and had symbolically dropped bombs in open spaces inside Indiancontrolled territory to demonstrate its right to self-defence.
India’s military said it had lost only one MiG-21 fighter, but sources admitted another had been damaged and limped back to base. India also said a Pakistani F-16 had been shot down, although this was denied by Islamabad.
International alarm at the quickly escalating dispute between the nuclear adversaries saw countries including the United States, Britain and Germany appeal for restraint.
Khan, the president of Pakistan, said he hoped ‘‘better sense’’ would prevail so that both sides could refrain from further action.
‘‘History tells us that wars are full of miscalculation,’’ he said. ‘‘My question is that given the weapons we have, can we afford miscalculation? We should sit down and talk.’’
Video of the captured Indian airman, the son of a retired air marshal, was broadcast on state media, firstly bloodied and blindfolded and secondly cleaned, drinking tea and saying he was being well treated.
India first launched airstrikes inside Pakistan territory on Tuesday, claiming it had struck a training camp for the Jaishe-Mohammad militant movement it blames for a suicide bombing on Indian police. Pakistan denies involvement in the attack earlier this month and says India’s jets hit only uninhabited forest and farmland.
As the two sides traded tit-fortat retaliation, analysts said the crisis was the worst in the region for two decades. Jeremy Hunt, the Foreign Secretary, said Britain was ‘‘deeply concerned about the rising tensions between India and Pakistan’’ and called for restraint ‘‘on both sides to avoid further escalation’’.
The US joined the international chorus calling for restraint. Mike Pompeo, the secretary of state, said he had spoken to the foreign ministers of India and Pakistan and urged them to talk rather than stoke tension.
‘‘I expressed to both ministers that we encourage India and Pakistan to exercise restraint and avoid escalation at any cost,’’ he said in a statement.
‘‘I also encouraged both ministers to prioritise direct communication and avoid further military activity.’’
Analysts said relations were so bad between Delhi and Islamabad that the situation was unlikely to improve without international mediation.
As the situation worsened, eight airports north of Delhi, including those in Jammu and Kashmir, and in Punjab and adjoining Himachal Pradesh, which both border Pakistan, cancelled all commercial flights for the next three months. Pakistan temporarily closed its airspace yesterday.