Pahalgam terror attack: Pakistan minister says ‘ready to cooperate’ with probe ‘conducted by international inspectors’

Pakistani Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif reportedly said his country was “ready to cooperate” with “any investigation which is conducted by international inspectors.” Asif was talking about the terror attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, that killed at least 26 people.

In an interview with the New York Times, Asif said on Friday, “We do not want this war to flare up, because flaring up of this war can cause disaster for this region."

The report claimed that Pakistani officials have asked the Trump administration to mediate the dispute between India and Pakistan.

Pakistan's defence minister Khawaja Asif had earlier warned his country's military was ‘prepared for any eventuality’ amid escalating tensions and downgraded diplomatic relations with India.

Asif told British news channel Sky News that the worsening ties between the two neighbouring nations post the Pahalgam terror attack might lead to an all-out India-Pakistan war.

"If there is an all-out attack or something like that, then obviously there will be an all-out war," Asif had said.

Pahalgam terror attack

Terrorists killed at least 26 people as they opened fire at a tourist spot in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam region on April 22. Since then, India has downgraded relations with neighbouring Pakistan.

Following the attack, India took countermeasures against Pakistan for its support of cross-border terrorism.

India decided to hold the Indus Waters Treaty of 1960 in abeyance until Pakistan credibly and irrevocably abjures its support for cross-border terrorism and has closed the integrated Attari Check Post.

India also declared the officials of the Pakistani High Commission persona non grata and ordered them to leave India within a week. It also ordered to cancel any visas provided under the SAARC Visa Exemption Scheme (SVES) and ordered Pakistan to leave the country within 48 hours.

Pakistan, meanwhile, warned it could suspend the Simla Agreement, a significant peace treaty signed after the 1971 India-Pakistan war that ended in Bangladesh splitting from Pakistan.

Pakistan also announced airspace restrictions for all Indian airlines and closure of the Attari-Wagah border.