NEW DELHI — President Trump said that he had “reasonably attractive news” that the tensions between India and Pakistan are likely to lessen a day after the nuclear-armed neighbors engaged in their first aerial combat in nearly 50 years.
The United States and other countries have called upon India and Pakistan to cease hostilities after two days of tit-for-tat airstrikes where both claimed to have shot down the other’s fighter jets and Pakistan captured an Indian pilot.
“We’ve been involved in trying to have them stop,” Trump told reporters in Hanoi. “We’ve been in the middle trying to help both out to see if we can get some organization and peace, and I think probably that’s going to be happening.”
Pakistani media welcomed Trump’s comments and talked about the need for a greater U.S. role in the region to defuse the situation because of its good relations with India.
Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi also local TV stations that they were ready to “return the captured Indian pilot if it leads to de-escalation.” On Wednesday Prime Minister Imran Khan called for talks on between the two countries.
But Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has not commented on the encounter or the capture of India’s pilot, nor has he described how India intends to respond. His silence has spurred speculation that India could be preparing further military action.
[‘Serious and dangerous’: countries urge India and Pakistan to cease fighting]
On Thursday, Modi addressed his party’s workers and referred to “enemies” who are trying to destabilize and attack the country. “India will grow as one,” he said, speaking in English, a rare occurrence. “India will fight as one. India will win as one.”
Modi is running for reelection later in the spring and has staked his reputation on a muscular approach to national security. On Tuesday, India launched an airstrike within Pakistan, hitting what it said was a training camp used by Jaish-e-Muhammad, the terrorist group responsible for a Feb. 14 attack that killed 40 Indian paramilitary officers.
The next day, Pakistan swiftly responded with airstrikes across the unofficial border that divides the Himalayan region of Kashmir. In the ensuing dogfight, one Indian aircraft was shot down and its pilot captured. India said its fighter jets also brought down a Pakistani plane.
The spokesman for Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry, Muhammad Faisal, confirmed that it has received the file on the Feb. 14 attack from India and “action will be taken on any actionable intelligence, if found in the dossier, ” he said.
For Modi, the political risks are rising. After India conducted its airstrikes on Tuesday, he appeared triumphant at an election rally in the state of Rajasthan. Behind him were arrayed the photos of the 40 officers killed in the Feb. 14 attack.
“The country is in safe hands,” he told the cheering crowd. Opposition politicians, too, praised the strikes and newspaper headlines reflected a sense of righteous revenge. India has long accused Pakistan of sheltering and supporting militants who conduct attacks in Kashmir and elsewhere in India. Pakistan denies it, but its intelligence services have links to such groups.
After Pakistan’s response on Wednesday, the mood in India began to shift. The capture of the pilot, identified by Indian media as Abhinandan Varthaman, added another volatile element to an already dangerous situation. Modi’s opponents seized on his decision to continue election-related activities in the midst of the crisis and criticized him for saying nothing about the pilot’s capture.
“It’s been nearly 24 hours since our pilot has gone missing,” wrote Akhilesh Yadav, the leader of the regional Samajwadi Party and a Modi foe, on Twitter. “We’re all waiting with bated breath but not a word from our leadership. The silence is deafening.”
Shaiq Hussain in Islamabad, Pakistan contributed to this report.
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