ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – Iran’s foreign minister arrived in the Pakistani capital on Monday for a one-day visit to meet top leaders, officials said, amid rising tension with neighbouring India following an attack on tourists last month in disputed Kashmir.
India has accused Pakistan of involvement in the deadly attack, which Islamabad denies. It says it has “credible intelligence” that India intends to launch military action, fuelling prospects for war between the nuclear-armed rivals.
Pakistan’s foreign office did not explicitly say Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi would discuss the standoff, but Iranian ambassador Reza Amiri Moghadam told state media the matter would be on the agenda.
“Given Iran’s close relations with both Pakistan and India, ways of reducing tension in the subcontinent will be among issues … pursued during Araqchi’s meetings,” he added.
Araqchi, who will be in Islamabad for a day, is expected to visit Delhi later this week. It was not immediately clear if the visits were planned prior to the latest tension.
“The two sides will also exchange views on regional and global developments,” Pakistan’s foreign office said in a statement flagging the meetings.
India’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. It has previously ruled out third-party mediation in matters related to Kashmir.
The Muslim-majority Himalayan region claimed by both India and Pakistan has been the focus of several wars and diplomatic stand-offs.
Since the attack, Islamabad has been in touch with a number of capitals regarding the situation, its foreign office said, most recently through a telephone call between Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar and Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov.
“Lavrov expressed concern over the situation and stressed the importance of diplomacy to resolve issues,” the foreign office said in a statement on Sunday, adding that he urged restraint on both sides, asking them to avoid escalation.
Islamabad has also asked its United Nations envoy to seek a meeting of the UN Security Council to brief the body on what it called India’s “aggressive actions” risking peace and security.
(Reporting by Gibran Peshimam and Dubai newsroom; Additional reporting by Shivam Patel in New Delhi; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
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