UN Chief Asks India, Pakistan To Exercise “Maximum Restraint”

UN chief Antonio Guterres urged the two countries to exercise restraint in the aftermath of the IAF airstrikes.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

(Photo: AP)

UN chief Antonio Guterres is following the situation between India and Pakistan "very closely" and has appealed to the governments of both nations to exercise "maximum restraint" to ensure the situation does not deteriorate further, a top UN official said on Tuesday, 26 February.

The UN Secretary General's remarks came after Indian Air Force (IAF) carried out a pre-dawn airstrikes on a terror training camp inside Pakistan.

The strike was the first by the IAF inside Pakistan after the 1971 war.

India bombed and destroyed Jaish-e-Mohammed’s (JeM) biggest training camp in Balakot in Pakistan’s restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, about 80-km from the Line of Control (LoC) early Tuesday, killing a “very large number” of terrorists, trainers and senior commanders.

“He is following the situation very closely and reiterates his urgent appeal to both the governments of India and the government of Pakistan to exercise maximum restraint to ensure that the situation does not further deteriorate.”

UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric on the Secretary General’s remarks on the air strike.

Read all the latest news on the airstrikes here.

Dujarric said Guterres did not have any information on the possible casualties and has seen the news reports.

Guterres is returning to New York from Geneva and Dujarric said he had spoken to the UN chief about the situation between India and Pakistan before he boarded his plane.

The air strike came 12 days after the JeM carried out a suicide attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district that killed 40 CRPF soldiers.

International Community Condemns Pakistan For Harbouring Terrorists

India launched a major diplomatic offensive against Islamabad after the Pulwama attack and highlighted Pakistan's role in using terrorism as an instrument of state policy.

The international community led by the US pressed Pakistan to deny safe haven to terror groups operating form its soil and bring the perpetrators of the Pulwama attack to justice.

India has asked Pakistan to take immediate and verifiable action against terrorists and terror groups operating from territories under its control.

New Delhi also announced the withdrawal of the Most Favoured Nation status for Pakistan and hiked the customs duty by 200 per cent on goods originating from Pakistan.