WASHINGTON, May 07 (APP): U.S. President Donald Trump has called India’s missile strikes on Pakistani cities and part of Azad Kashmir “a shame” and hoped that the Indian operation would end soon.
“It’s a shame,” he told reporters Tuesday at the White House, as India launched multiple strikes in the backdrop of April 22 killing of 26 people in Indian-occupied Kashmir that New Delhi claimed had a Pakistani connection.
Islamabad has firmly rejected the Indian allegation.
Trump reacted to the strikes Tuesday evening, saying in part: “It’s a shame. We just heard about it as we were walking through the doors of the Oval.”
He said of the two nuclear rivals: “They’ve been fighting for a long time … I just hope it ends very quickly.”
The president’s comments came during the swearing-in ceremony for Steve Witkoff, the U.S.’s special envoy to the Middle East.
Reacting to this grave development, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said in a statement: “Pakistan has every right to give a robust response to this act of war imposed by India, and a strong response is indeed being given.”
He added that “the Pakistani nation and the Pakistan Armed Forces know very well how to deal with the enemy. We will never let the enemy succeed in its nefarious objectives.”
In New York, at UN Headquarters in New York, a UN Spokesman said, that Secretary-General Antonio Guterres “very concerned about the Indian military operations across the Line of Control and international border.”
“He calls for maximum military restraint from both countries,” Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said in a brief statement.
“The world cannot afford a military confrontation between India and Pakistan,” the UN chief added.