UN Secretary General Concerned About India-Pakistan Conflict, Asks All Parties To Hold Back

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres. (Twitter/@antinooguterres)

JAKARTA - UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed deep concern over the conflict between two neighboring countries, India and Pakistan.

"The Secretary-General is deeply concerned about India's military operations along the Control Line and international borders. He called for maximum military restraint from the two countries," spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement, quoted by Anadolu May 7.

"The world is unable to bear the military confrontation between India and Pakistan," he added.

Secretary General Guterres' remarks were delivered shortly after the Indian military launched a missile attack under what he called "Operation Sindoor," targeting locations in Pakistan and Pakistan-run Jammu-Kashmir.

India attacked Pakistan and Pakistananiharms on Wednesday, while Pakistan said it had shot down five Indian fighter jets in the worst fighting in more than two decades between the two nuclear-armed countries.

India says it has attacked nine locations of Pakistan's "terrorist infrastructure", some of which are linked to attacks by Islamic militants against Hindu tourists.

Islamabad said six Pakistani locations were targeted, and none of these locations were militant camps. At least 26 civilians were killed and 46 others injured, a Pakistani military spokesman said.

Indian troops attacked the headquarters of the Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Taiba Islamic militant groups, an Indian defense source told Reuters.

"India has shown considerable self-control in its target selection and execution methods," India's Ministry of Defense said in a statement.

After the Indian attack, the Indian army said in a post on X on Wednesday: "Justification is upheld."

On the other hand, Pakistan said Indian missiles hit three locations, with a military spokesman telling Reuters five Indian aircraft had been shot down, an unconfirmed claim by India.

However, four local government sources in India'sASH told Reuters three fighter jets fell in separate areas of the Himalayan region at night.

The three pilots have been hospitalized, the source added. Indian Defense Ministry officials could not immediately be reached to confirm the report.

Images circulating in local media showed a broken large cylinder-shaped metal chunk lying in a field at one of the accident sites. Reuters was unable to immediately verify the authenticity of the image.

Islamabad called the attack a "significant act of war" and said it had informed the UN Security Council that Pakistan was entitled to respond appropriately to India's aggression.

"All of these engagements have been carried out as defensive action," said Pakistani military spokesman Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry.

"Pakistan remains a very responsible country. However, we will take all necessary steps to maintain Pakistan's honor, integrity and sovereignty, by all means," he said.

The two neighboring South Asian countries also opened fire on each other and opened fire on many people at most of their de facto borders in the Himalayan peninsula, police and eyewitnesses told Reuters.

The statement was made as tensions escalated between the two countries over last month's attack on the Indian-run Palaligam tourist resort

India blamed Pakistan, saying the attack had "on-border relations." Islamabad denied it and instead offered a neutral investigation with third-party monitoring.

The two countries have taken diplomatic steps against each other, including canceling visas for their respective citizens and recalling home some diplomatic staff.